ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the European digital advertising space.

1. Matomy Bucks Ad Tech Trend And Opts For London Listing

Israel-based ad tech firm Matomy this week revealed it aims to raise $100m by floating on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), contrasting with the strategies of several other firms in the space (notably France-based Criteo and Ireland-based games giant King.com) that have opted to list in the US where the stakes are undoubtedly higher.
Matomy, which offers a suite of online advertising services from display to search verrig towards the performance end of the market, has chosen to list in the UK because of its status as a global economic centre and is an early adopter of such technologies. This is despite the Tel Aviv-based firm not even opening an office in the UK capital yet.

The move is in contrast to the strategies of several other companies in the sector – similarly Sweden-based Spotify which this week secured an extra $200m in credit, is rumoured to be lining up to IPO in New York - the move is a major endorsement for the European ad tech scene.

Although the voices of Boris Johnson et al, are keen to champion the credentials of London as a tech hub, plus Spain-based Telefonica’s multiple attempts to set up tech hubs across the continent. But the fact is if any parallels can be drawn between Europe and the US, it’s the dual hegemony of Tel Aviv and Israel as the tech hub (think ‘the European Silicon Valley’), and London as where they go to turn innovation into serious cash (think ‘the European Wall Street’).

2. Adbrain Raises $7.5m In Series A Funding

In the other end of the start-up spectrum, mobile advertising firm Adbrain this week revealed it has raised $7.5m in Series A funding, in a sign that the industry is finally buckling down to making ‘the year of mobile’ happen.
The funding round was led by Octopus Investments; existing investors Notion Capital also participated, and Adbrain will use the funds to step up its expansion in both Europe and the US.

Adbrain is led by ExchangeWire columnist Gareth Davies and earlier this year launched its platform that lets advertisers buy campaigns using programmatic technology across screens with agencies and trading desks: Annalect (part of Omnicom Media Group Europe), The Exchange Lab, M&C Saatchi Mobile, Fetch and Somo, all participating at the launch.

The platform lets advertisers to crunch their own data with second and third-party data to create custom audience ‘segments’ they can target, according to the company.

Gareth Davies, CEO of Adbrain, commented: “Adbrain has won the backing of investors and advertisers by creating a truly transparent advertising platform in an industry accustomed to black-box and managed-service solutions. By effectively responding to consumers’ new multi-screen habits and the rapid spread of connected devices, we are defining the future of advertising. This funding will further establish our authority in the space both in Europe and the USA.

“In particular, it’s an honour to be welcomed into the Octopus ‘club' and join a number of incredibly innovative and game-changing companies who are busy changing the face of their respective industries.”

The development comes as Google is reported to be pitching advertisers a new kind of ad targeting system that will accommodate the shift to mobile – or ‘post-PC era’ – further diminishing the importance of cookies in online ad targeting.

According to an Ad Age article, the technology lets advertisers to target people who've visited their web sites with ads on tablets and smartphones, citing agency sources that have been briefed on the developments. The article further reports that beta tests have been taking place in the last two weeks, but Google has yet to officially comment on the report.

The problems that the consumer shift to mobile – i.e. advertisers are just not prepared to pay as much for mobile ad placements compared to desktop – is one that is already well documented here on ExchangeWire, and if true (as most Ad Age reports are), this promises to be one of the key developments of 2014.

3. Adform Calls on Publishers to Open Up

The publication of the latest Adform quarterly report was detailed earlier this week in ExchangeWire, demonstrating that that programmatic ad trading is generating record CPMs for publishers (up 67% year-on-year), but despite all this, publishers are continuing to see that channel as a threat to their existing business models.
In a piece by Martin Stockfleth Larsen, Adform CMO, he further revealed that RTB spending increased 32% from Q3 to Q4; and is 366% higher than it was this time last year. Adding that anyone who thought programmatic was a passing fad must now be convinced of its staying power, and imploring premium publishers to stop fearing RTB.