ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the European digital advertising space, including RTL's purchase of a majority stake in SpotXchange, AOL and Havas' programmatic deal and the IAB's attempt to clarify terms on programmatic.

RTL Buys 65% of SpotXchange For $144m
Leading European broadcaster RTL this week announced its intention to buy a majority stake in US-based SpotXchange in the latest move in a feeding frenzy going on in the online video tech space.

The deal is subject to US competition authority approval and is expected to close by the end of August 2014, and is RTL’s latest step in the non-linear TV segment of the market.

Under the terms of the transaction, RTL Group will appoint three of five members of the board of SpotXchange. Michael Shehan and Steve Swoboda will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the company, reporting to its Board.

RTL Group and the management team of SpotXchange have developed a joint growth plan to keep SpotXchange on its current growth path in the US and Asian-Pacific region, while simultaneously focusing on an accelerated roll-out in Europe.

Anke Schäferkordt, and Guillaume de Posch, co-CEOs of RTL Group, said: “The logical next step in our strategy is a structural move into the area of digital monetisation – improving our skills by adding innovative data- and technology-based competencies.

RTL has agreed to buy 65% of SpotXchange for close to $144m (with options to buy the remaining 35%). The move comes just weeks after Facebook purchased video SSP LiveRail, and raises the question if other broadcasters will look to buy tech.

Havas and AOL ink global programmatic deal
AOL Platforms, a division of AOL, this week announced a global deal with Havas’ agency trading desk Affiperf to use the online advertising company’s One by AOL platform.

Under the terms of the deal, which goes live in 2015, Affiperf will be a charter customer of One by AOL enabling it to use the platform. unveiled earlier this year, to use of data and technology to create new, breakthrough models for media transactions, operations and investments across their countries, according to the firms. Affiperf estimates programmatic spending will grow to $35bn as soon as 2017.

IAB seeks clarity on programmatic
IAB Europe this week launched a pan-European Programmatic Trading White Paper along with a host of ad tech vendors to help agree definitions for the different elements of the technology’s use with the aim of explaining how the technology works, and helping to agree more widely-held definitions and consensus on the different aspects of programmatic advertising.

The trade body has also announced it was working with its AdEx Benchmark Task Force and research firm IHS Technology to size the European Programmatic Trading market – the findings are set to be published in Q3, 2014.
This initiative is backed by ADTECH, AppNexus, AudienceScience, Cxense, The Exchange Lab, Improve Digital, Yahoo, Xaxis and White & Case, with the trade body purposely involving several ad tech vendors to agree “company-neutral simple explanations about what programmatic trading is”, as well as dispel widespread misnomers about the technology.

UK law enforcement continues piracy crackdown
The City of London Police this week moved to further starve online pirates of ad funding by replacing display ads on copyright-infringing sites with official banners from the force.

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at the City of London Police is now replacing a wide range of legitimate brand adverts on copyright-infringing websites with banners advising visitors to exit the page, as it is under investigation as part of its piracy crackdown.

The sites where the new banners will feature have been identified by copyright holders who then provide evidence of the copyright infringement to PIPCU.

The unit then evaluates the reported websites as part of its Operation Creative initiative, and then contacts the site owners (if they are found to be infringing copyright laws) and offers them the opportunity to begin operating legitimately.

However, if a website fails to comply and engage with the police a variety of other options may then be employed including: seeking suspension of the site from the domain registrar, or the advert replacement (see image), which would also involve the website being registered on the the Infringing Website List (IWL).

Amazon launches self-service tool
Amazon has debuted a self-serve ad-buying tool that lets media buyers buy ads from the commerce behemoth VivaKi is the first to trial the offering.

The launch lets the Publicis agency buy ads without the need for a salaried sales person, and follows on from similar launches by Facebook. Amazon plans to roll out the service to other “select” media agencies in the months ahead.