ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the US/Canadian digital advertising space. In this week’s edition: Snap, Inc. and Factual partner; The Weather Company and Toyota use Watson Ads; Centro integrates comScore and DoubleVerify Data; SpotX protects audience data; YP and Verve partner; and xAd rebrands to 'Groundtruth'

Snap, Inc. partners with Factual for location data

Factual, a location data company for mobile advertising, has come to an agreement with Snap, Inc. to allow them to leverage Factual’s Global Places data product to access location data within the Snapchat mobile app.

Rob Jonas, VP of Revenue, Factual

Data within Global Places covers 100+ million local businesses and points of interest in 52 countries and is used globally by leading mobile app companies, adding Snap, Inc. to their growing list.

“We are thrilled to partner with an innovative company like Snap Inc, that understands how location data can help drive more engaging and contextually relevant experiences for users. At Factual, we believe location is an incredibly valuable signal and a core differentiator for mobile based products and will be increasingly embraced by the best mobile companies”, Rob Jonas, VP of revenue at Factual tells ExchangeWire.

Snapchat has a particularly high bar with respect to data needs and requirements, given its over 166 million daily active users on average. Factual is a leading data location provider and experts in geolocation with deep insights. Other businesses licensing Factual’s data include Uber, Apple, and Facebook.

The Weather Company and Toyota use Watson Ads for first cognitive ads in the auto industry

To introduce Toyota’s Prius Prime, Toyota worked with IBM Business, The Weather Company, to launch the first cognitive ads for the auto industry using Watson Ads on The Weather Channel App and weather.com.

Sarah Ripmaster, Head of Automotive Sales, The Weather Company

Watson Ads are a cognitive ad format enabling consumers to connect with brands and giving marketers a scalable opportunity to have a one-to-one conversation with their audience. The cognitive ad format combines machine learning, natural language understanding, and integrated dialogue tools helping Toyota to engage and educate consumers about Prius Prime through the purchase funnel.

Speaking with ExchangeWire, Sarah Ripmaster, The Weather Company’s head of automotive sales says: “Toyota’s Watson Ads experience for Prius Prime is the seventh Watson Ads campaign to launch, and we are thrilled to introduce this innovative ad format to the auto industry.

"Through Watson Ads, Toyota will be able gain deeper insight into the types of questions that consumers are asking during the decision-making process, which can then influence future creative messaging and media strategies.

"Watson Ads put the consumers in the driver's seat. Instead of passively experiencing a brand’s message, consumers are actively engaging with the ad to learn more about the car on their own terms. This means the experience empowers consumer to ask the questions that truly matter the most to them during their auto-shopping journey, and can ultimately help impact brand consideration.”

Centro integrates with comScore and DoubleVerify data

Katie Risch, SVP of Software Client Solutions, Centro

Centro, a digital advertising and media management enterprise software company, is adding additional targeting capabilities to its platform by integrating with comScore and DoubleVerify providing new options for marketers to find audiences based on page-level demographics, predicted viewability, or brand protection parameters.

“Brands and agencies want streamlined access and robust choices when it comes to data segments to use for programmatic ad buying. By pursuing deeper integrations with the industry’s leading providers, Centro is giving marketers flexibility in finding the right combination of targeting parameters and brand safety options for their campaigns. Optimising how they use this data empowers brands to better compete for customers”, Katie Risch, Centro’s SVP of software client solutions tells ExchangeWire.

SpotX launches solution to protect audience data

SpotX, a Denver-based video ad serving platform, has launched a new solution to protect audience data, called 'Audience Lock'. The new solution provides a secure environment to conduct data-driven transactions and allows complete control of data ownership by buyers and sellers. As more first- and third-party data is used to improve targeting for advertising, Audience Lock allows targeting in a secure environment and has been designed for broadcasters, TV networks, OTT platforms, telecommunications companies, and other high-value, unique data owners. This solution will help media owners manage under strict privacy requirements that may vary between countries and can be used across both traditional direct and programmatic direct transactions.

“Effective transactions at scale are sometimes held back by legitimate privacy concerns shared by all parties. Audience Lock alleviates these concerns by matching user IDs and audience segments in a controlled environment, and ensures proprietary data is only available for the campaign at hand and can be configured to expire upon campaign completion.

“With the ability to define boundaries around who can see what data, media owners are able to protect the value of their data and facilitate direct sales, without concerns of data leakage or limiting buyer access to inventory”, said Allen Klosowski, VP, advanced solutions group at SpotX.

YP and Verve partner to offer mobile display

YP will offer a mobile-display product for national brands and agencies that will leverage YP’s first-party search intent data with Verve’s proprietary audience segments, giving brands access YP’s national audience. This partnership will allow brands to use Verve’s location-based insights and targeting, and YP’s purchase-minded audience to reach increasingly on-the-move consumers.

Jared Rowe, CEO at YP said: “With millions of users, YP is committed to connecting local businesses with consumers wherever they are, on whatever device or medium they’re using. We rely on industry-leading partners like Verve to help us expand our reach beyond our owned and operated channels. This agreement allows us to focus on our large consumer audience, while delivering even more value to our clients.”

xAd rebrands to 'GroundTruth'

xAd rebrands to GroundTruth

xAd, a location technology company, has rebranded globally to 'GroundTruth'. As the company has evolved from focusing on the advertising industry, to empowering businesses through media and data, the rebranding efforts are representative of this change.

GroundTruth has seen tremendous growth since 2009 and now operates in 21 countries, seeing two out of three people who own a smartphone in the US, and over a billion physical visits to places across the globe. See more coverage from ExchangeWire.