ad networks

Yahoo Gives “Retargeters” the Boot. Ad Networks Next?

Peter Kafka in Media on November 10, 2011 at 12:29 pm PT

Yahoo’s Ross Levinsohn tries to fix his ad sales problem, by kicking out outsiders who resell his stuff.

News Byte

Apple Takes a Key Tracking Tool Away From Developers

Peter Kafka in News on August 19, 2011 at 3:30 pm PT

Apple is making a key change in the way developers and other third parties interact with the company’s mobile users. The company is taking away access to the “unique device identifier” associated with every iPad and iPhone. As Techcrunch notes, the change will be particularly meaningful for ad and game networks that used the UDIDs to track user behavior. It’s also worth noting that Apple has announced big changes in its developer policies before, and then backed down, to at least some degree, after public outcry.

Nice Empty Space You Got There. Mind If We Run a Web Ad?

Peter Kafka in Media on June 6, 2011 at 4:00 am PT

Ad network Undertone rolls out a new ad unit that will turn the left and right side of your Web browser into commercial messages. Gripe all you want, but you’re probably going to see them.

Peer39 Raises Another $5 Million for Ad Targeting That Promises Not to Invade Your Privacy

Peter Kafka in Media on May 19, 2011 at 12:58 pm PT

The display ad company adds fuel with an inside round.

Apple Sued Over Mobile App Privacy

Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 28, 2010 at 3:01 pm PT

Apple and four app developers have been hit with a lawsuit that alleges violations of computer fraud and privacy laws by allowing ad networks to access users’ personal information.

Ad Networks Pair Up: Specific Media Buys BBE

Peter Kafka in Media on October 15, 2010 at 3:04 pm PT

We’ll see more of this over time, as the overstuffed ad network industry consolidates, and this one makes some sense on paper: BBE specializes in video ads, and Specific doesn’t have any video business at all.

Web Analysts Push For Privacy Standards

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on September 29, 2010 at 10:39 am PT

As Web tracking faces growing regulatory and public scrutiny, people who analyze online data for a living are confronting questions about their industry. The Wall Street Journal’s What They Know series has documented the cutting-edge uses of the tracking technology used to create profiles of consumers’ habits. The 50 most popular U.S. websites installed 64 tracking files on average, the Journal study found.

Microsoft Sticks a Cautious Toe Into the Ad Exchange Business

Peter Kafka in Media on February 1, 2010 at 3:45 am PT

Is Microsoft is finally ready to a launch its long-delayed advertising exchange? Just barely. Redmond is set to roll out AdECN, the “real-time” ad exchange it bought in 2007 within the next two weeks. But only in the most cautious of tests: Microsoft will open up AdECN to a handful of ad buyers and says it will only allow them to purchase a “select, limited amount of Microsoft inventory.”

CBS Tells Ad Networks It’s Going Cold Turkey

Peter Kafka in Media on December 14, 2009 at 3:00 am PT

CBS says it will stop doing business with ad networks, which are ubiquitous on the Web, and will offer access to its audience of 60 million unique visitors solely via its own salesforce. The company is one of a handful of big publishers trying to force buyers to pay more for its stuff. Clever or quixotic?

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