AdTech: Week in Review

Week 3 → 15th January - 21st January

Jan 22, 2024

Welcome Readers!

The Best Newsletter in whole of AdTech is back <3

(I know, I know - the self-proclamation seems a bit pompous, but as they say fake it till you make it, right.)

Writing again after a long hiatus seems nice. But you all know what’s even better, right? AdTech!

2023 was a crazy year with countless acquisitions, while many of the major players struggled due to diminishing spends and lack of raising potential in the market. Time will tell whether these trends continue in 2024 but as we enter the year, the AdTech community faces tremendous opportunities and challenges within programmatic advertising.

So, let’s buckle up and fly right through another great week of AdTech happenings!

Tweet of the Week!

The Top Three

Covering the biggest happenings of the week ad rem to AdTech

<1> Reddit seeks to IPO in March

Reddit is preparing to launch its initial public offering (IPO) in March, according to a new report from Reuters. The report notes that the move comes more than three years after the San Francisco-based social media platform first began eyeing an IPO. Reddit is planning to make its public filing in late February and complete the IPO by the end of March.

The news comes nearly two months after Bloomberg reported that Reddit was holding talks with potential investors for an initial public offering.

<2> LiveRamp buys marketing startup Habu for $200 million

The deal will enable their clients - including notable names such as Walmart, PepsiCo and DISH Media - to share customer data more easily with their business partners, including advertisers and other stores. Habu specializes in so-called “clean rooms”, which help content platforms keep user data private when interacting with advertisers.

LiveRamp will pay approximately $170 million in cash and $30 million in LiveRamp stock for Habu. The deal is expected to be completed during the March quarter, LiveRamp said. San Francisco-based LiveRamp expects Habu to deliver approximately $18 million in revenue in fiscal year 2025.

<3> FTC Refiles Its Location-Tracking Lawsuit Against Kochava

The commission refiled its amended lawsuit on Monday in a federal court in Idaho.

The FTC accused Kochava of collecting potentially sensitive geolocation data and making it available to other companies through a marketplace. According to the FTC, the data was being sold in a format that would allow companies to track consumers moving to, from and between sensitive locations, such as abortion clinics, places of worship and drug treatment facilities.

The Usual Suspects: Big Tech

Highlighting the whereabouts of Big Tech with reference to AdTech

Google is enhancing enforcement of the EU UCP for audience and measurement solutions. LINK
Amazon allows users to create their own custom brand personas with persona builder. LINK
Amazon expands Sponsored Display to surface on Amazon Business globally. LINK
Amazon Ads launched Alexa as a Standard Display and AAP - Mobile App supply source in Amazon DSP. LINK
Microsoft unveils new workflow and analysis tools for Customer Insights. The company is evolving the product into a full-service marketing backbone, similar to offerings from Salesforce and HubSpot. LINK
Apple updates the App Store Review Guideline to allow apps that offer in-app purchases in the iOS or iPadOS App Store on the United States storefront the ability to include a link to the developer’s website that informs users of other ways to purchase digital goods or services. LINK
Google CEO tells employees to expect more job cuts this year. LINK
Supreme Court rejects Epic v. Apple antitrust case. LINK
Google Ends Cloud Switching Fees, Pressuring Amazon and Microsoft. LINK
Amazon Prime Video unwraps affordable ads. LINK

Launches, Partnerships, and IPOs!

Simply put, articles around the innovations, partnerships, and new launches that took place over the last week.

BidsCube teams up with Pixalate to combat ad fraud. LINK
Salesforce announces new tools for retail marketers. LINK
TransUnion unveils enhanced identity graph for marketers. LINK
Magnite announced that Tennis Australia has selected Demand Manager as their Prebid header bidding wrapper solution. LINK
Magnite and iHeartMedia announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind marketplace that brings together iHeartMedia’s broadcast radio, streaming radio and podcast assets for inclusion in omnichannel programmatic media buys. LINK
Criteo announced a new partnership with Albertsons Media Collective to enhance its cutting-edge retail media network. LINK
OpenX and StackAdapt announced a partnership to help enable political advertisers to reach their target audiences programmatically across CTV, mobile, web and display. LINK
IAB Tech Lab turns 10 years old; Unveils 2024 priorities & roadmap. LINK
Viant integrates with PurpleLab. LINK
TripleLift partners with ID5 to advance advertiser targeting across the Open Web. LINK
DoubleVerify to gauge brand safety and suitability on Facebook, Instagram. LINK
Netflix tests retail deal with Carrefour to gain subscribers. LINK
Red Ventures explores sale of CNET. LINK
Truckable launches OOH advertising on Semi-Trucks. LINK
Indeed introduced Specialist Media Networks to help employers hire for competitive and hard-to-fill roles. LINK
GroupM announced that Choreograph, its campaign planning and data insights platform, is now integrated with Google’s AudienceInsightsService API. LINK

Cool General Tech

Just some general tech updates across the week that I found interesting.

Forget Apple Vision Pro — rabbit r1 is 2024’s most exciting launch yet. LINK
Lamborghini licenses MIT’s new high-capacity, fast-charging organic battery tech. LINK
What happened to Artifact? LINK

AdWIR

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