Robert Andrews

LONDON — Many brands and publishers think so-called “programmatic” online ad sales mechanisms excel at cheap ad inventory. But times could be changing – and so they should, says one GroupM data exec. “At the beginning, programmatic started more from a performance background,” GroupM’s Xaxis UK MD Nicolas Bidon tells Beet.TV. “It was associated, rightly […]

LONDON — It feels like we have only just begun to see the emergence of the highly-efficiency “programmatic” online ad sales mechanism in pictorial display and in video. Next up, traditional linear TV could be reinvented by the technology. “It can absolutely be done today,” video ad tech firm Videology‘s global TV strategy head Rhys […]

LONDON — The rise of advanced data-driven and otherwise “programmatic” online advertising sales processes is challenging traditional ad networks to step up and defend their place in the future, a Beet.TV panel of industry execs agrees. “For the development of video as a legitimate channel, they were a necessity,” Videology’s global TV strategy head Rhys […]

LONDON — We have heard plenty this year on how so-called “programmatic”, data-driven ad spending is revolutionising advertising efficiency. But how does this new method complement traditional video ad sales? Jamie Wilson, the UK sales MD of the large online sports video outfit Perform Group, suggests programmatic drives incremental performance on the margins. “I see […]

LONDON — A year that started with lingering suspicion from publishers that programmatic ad selling would devalue their inventory is ending with far wider premium publisher acceptance of this collection of technologies. News Corp and The New York Times are now selling in this way, and The Guardian, too, has launched its own Response+ trading […]

LONDON — It started out as The Manchester Guardian in 1821 and had since become a national newspaper. But, this fall, The Guardian crossed another geographical rubicon – it became more popular in the US than its native UK. “Since we moved to theguardian.com, the US audience is bigger than the UK audience,” Guardian News […]

One of the problems with the huge online video opportunity is that premium video ads can typically only be placed in premium video content, which advertisers grumble is not in great enough supply. So The Economist is now beginning to thread auto-playing video advertising in between paragraphs of its respected text articles. The development comes […]

LONDON — So-called “programmatic” buying and selling of online ads may super-target highly efficient inventory – but that doesn’t mean algorithms really understand consumers’ emotions, says one ad exec. “The programmatic landscape is very obsessed with ‘who’ and ‘what’; it’s not looking at ‘why’,” Phil Townend, EMEA MD of viral video monitor Unruly Media, tells beet.TV, […]

LONDON — For a medium so dependent on digital data, it is no wonder the internet has lately seen the rise of super-targeted, highly-efficient “programmatic” ad-buying. But that hasn’t stopped the re-emergence of old-style TV ad-measuring metrics like gross rating point. “When you’re in TV, you’re told ‘there’ll be no such thing as TV’,” sports […]

LONDON — We know that automated, so-called “programmatic” purchasing of online ad space is important and growing. But how important, and how fast is it growing? “We don’t have any independent figures at the moment,” the Internet Advertising Bureau UK‘s data and industry programmes head Steve Chester tells Beet.TV. “We will have that next year […]

LONDON –Videos is the fastest part of Xaxis, the data and technology of GroupM, media agency division of  WPP.  It has been a “watershed” year where the agency is using data to target about half of its video buying across the EMEA region, says Caspar Schlickum, MD of EMEA, in this interview with Beet.TV The […]

LONDON — Consumers are using many different digital devices to watch content and advertising. But ads are still being bought with an air of fragmentation, says one executive. “Mobile is still a very, very tiny fraction of advertising spend,” says Nicolas Bidon, UK MD of GroupM’s Xaxis data-handling unit in this interview with Beet.TV “The […]

LONDON — It’s barely a week since video distribution and monetization service Rightster became that rare beast – a technology floatation on London’s stock markets. But CEO Charlie Muirhead, whose company raised £22.4 million ($36 million), tells Beet.TV he is already talking with companies he wants to buy to grow his video business further. “We’re in […]

LONDON — While many news publishers have eyed the rise of so-called “programmatic” automated online ad trading with skepticism, Guardian News & Media has “embraced” the approach for four years, says revenue director Tim Gentry. The latest example is the deal Gentry signed with ad tech vendor MediaMath last month creating Response+, a trading desk which […]

LONDON — When it comes to content, digital media used to be seen as the poor relation to television. But, when it comes to measuring content, it’s TV that’s now imitating the web, says a Nielsen executive. “One of the most int trends we’re seeing at the moment in Europe is the extent to which […]

LONDON — There comes a point in the life of every buzz phrase when it knows the writing is on the wall. Has that time already come for “mobile-first”, the industry’s recent recognition that mobile devices are now the primary content consumption spaces for many consumers? “This idea of putting ‘mobile first’ is starting to […]

LONDON — “Programmatic” ad-buying, so much talked about through 2013 yet apparently so misunderstood, may be giving way to a clear and flexible definition of the practices it encompasses. Videology global accounts director Jana Eisenstein tells Beet.TV: “Our definition of ‘programmatic’ is automating media buying,  integrating supply and demand, making decisions in real-time and optimizing against […]

LONDON — The best way for brands to exploit the real-time marketing opportunity is with a combination of copious amounts of data and a healthy dose of new-wave creativity, says ad group Starcom MediaVest Group’s EMEA chief digital officer. “Real-time marketing is becoming a part of what we do on a day-to-day basis – we […]

LONDON — In a multi-screen advertising universe, what’s the role of TV anymore? First amongst many but merely the seed for all, says one digital ad boss. “Our approach is integrated screen planning – we see all TV screen content as video,” SMG’s EMEA director of performance marketing and mobile development Richard Hocking tells Beet.TV. “The traditional […]

LONDON — Ad traders are adjusting to what they see as a two-speed video advertising ecosystem, as broadcasters are slower to adopt new-wave data-driven ad targeting techniques see in online. “TV has a very successful model,” SMG UK digital trading director John Baylon tells Beet.TV. They need to be very careful about not disrupting that […]