Andy Plesser

Ari Bluman, Chief Investment Office of GroupM, a relentless proponent of a clean, well lit place for digital advertising, who tirelessly pushed  for standards around viewable ad units, and for a reliable programmatic platform, succumbed to a long battle with cancer, GroupM announced today. Two years ago, we sat down with Ari for this interview […]

FreeWheel, a Comcast unit, has acquired StickyAds, a Paris-based supply side platform (SSP).  The deal was announced earlier this week. The alliance between FreeWheel and StickyAds has been in place for several month, as we reported in September from DMEXCO when we interviewed StickAds CEO and co-founder Herve Brunet. We have republished that interview today.

Academy award-nominated documentarian Morgan Spurlock could be dubbed the king of the Digital Content NewFronts after having presented numerous new shows in past NewFronts  Last week, he unveiled ambitious plans for two new series, one for Refinery29 with Maker Studio and another project with Time Inc. We spoke with him after his panel on Thursday at the Digitas […]

With the inclusion of the podcast app in newer iPhone, and the success of series like Serial, podcasts are enjoying  rapid growth, says Ira Glass, the public radio veteran and producer of This American Life. We spoke with Glass last week at the Digitas NewFronts where he pitched the marketing value of podcasts to a […]

At the Digitas NewFronts event on Thursday in Manhattan, the message to marketers was direct and cautionary: In the era of consumer choice and ad blocking, if you don’t successfully engage, “you die.” You become “invisible.” The theme of the Digitas NewFronts was titled “Skip Ads.” At the event, we spoke with Tony Weisman, CEO of […]

MIAMI –  The demands of clients, consumers and new technologies are pushing agencies to work faster, says veteran marketer Wendy Clark who joined DDB as North American CEO earlier this year from a top marketing spot at Coca-Cola. The emerging formula of success on Madison Avenue is speed and quality, she says.  She also explains […]

The notion of “screen agnostic,” meaning a unified video form factor created by publishers for various devices and platforms, is out with the emergence of powerful social media, notably Snapchat and Facebook, explains Digiday’s Sahil Patel, in this overview of industry trends and a preview of Digiday’s upcoming video summit in Florida next month. The […]

With its acquisition of DIRECTV complete, AT&T has the largest “addressable” footprint for delivering television advertising on a household level.  The value of this emerging media will be presented to the industry this TV Upfront season with the first “Addressable Upfronts,” says Maria Mandel Dunsche, VP for Marketing at AT&T AdWorks, in this interview with Beet.TV Rather […]

As video publishers and advertisers seek new audiences by embracing new platforms of distribution, notably Facebook, the challenges around monetization need to be solved,  This and other issues  facing the industry will be addressed at Digiday’s first video industry summit, set for Palm Beach April 10-12 For an overview on the topics and format, we […]

BARCELONA —  With its acquisition by Verizon last year, coupled with the rapid consumer adoption, mobile – and mobile video in particular, has become “foundational” to the business of AOL, explains Allie Kline, CMO in this interview with Beet.TV While mobile is the focus, the industry is still “chasing the consumer” who has adopted mobile […]

DMEXCO, the giant digital media industry conference held annually in Cologne, will be bigger than ever this year with some 50,000 attendees.  And it will have a new content track on the transformation of television, says Christian Muche, co-founder of DMEXCO in this interview with Beet.TV He expects the show to attract many international broadcasters to attend […]

Advertisers will soon be able to buy linear TV advertising programmatically from AT&T in its 26 million homes, using data targeting that has been widely used for Web video. Advertisers will be able to bring their own data to a self-service, “private marketplace.”  They will be able to see results in a fully transparent manner, explains Jason […]

VIEQUES, PR — ONE by AOL is powering advertising  via Verizon’s  Go90, the wireless giant’s new video app.   Noah Fenn, head of Video Sales and Strategy at AOL explains how AOL is driving ad decisioning at Go90.  In this interview, he explains how AOL is bringing various data sets into the platform which is […]

VIEQUES, PR –  Virool, the San Francisco-based video adtech company that provides “outstream” or “in-article” video advertising,  is powering its growth with a data management platform that has 450 million uniques, says Brian Danzis, Chief Revenue Officer, in this interview with Beet.TV He says the company, which had originally focused on building audiences for individual […]

VIEQUES, PR – With television inventory soon to be sold out, there are billions of dollars on the table.   Unable to spend more on television, big dollars will go to publishers who can target hard-to-reach voters, says Mari Kim Novak, Chief Marketing Officer at Rubicon Project, in this interview with Beet.TV She also speaks […]

Viant, a holding company of several adtech units including Specific Media and Vindico, and the owner of MySpace, has been acquired by Time Inc, the company announced today.  Terms have not been announced. At CES in January, we spoke with CEO Tim Vandorhook about the company and the continuing value of MySpace for targeted advertising. […]

As hundreds of executives from the media and marketing worlds gathered yesterday under the AWNY banner, at glitzy dinner to honor media luminary Wenda Harris Millard, we sat down with two of the evening speakers: GE’s CMO Linda Boff and Carolyn Everson, advertising chief at Facebook. Both longtime acquaintances of Millard, they speak to her talent, […]

The transformation of the media agency and its trading desk; the next evolution in programmatic; the new forms of video advertising across screens, will be among the topics explored at Beet Retreat, a two-day executive retreat being held on the Caribbean island of Vieques next week. Doug Ray, CEO of Carat U.S.  will be among the […]

PALM SPRINGS – As the digital publishing industry gathered for the annual IAB Leadership Meeting this week to mark the  milestone of reaching $50 billion, its Chairperson says that publishers need reorient themselves around delivering advertising precisely to those who want the ads. Newly named IAB Chair Lauren Wiener, President, Platform Buyers,  Tremor Video,  says that […]

PALM SPRINGS — As the digital media industry celebrates its 20 years and the milestone of being a $50 billion global industry, the business needs to become more diverse, says Michael Kassen, CEO of the powerhouse media consultantcy in this interview. We spoke with him on Sunday at the IAB’s annual leadership meeting.