ExchangeWire rounds up the week's biggest stories in ad tech, and in this week's edition: Apple crosses the Rubicon into programmatic; British consolidation move reflects the blurring world of ad- and martech; Millennial Media hires Gubbins; PubMatic eyes Italian opportunity. 

Apple crosses the Rubicon into programmatic world with Rubicon Project tie-up for  iAd

Rubicon Project this week announced it was among a host of other companies to be selected by Apple to sell iAd inventory via programmatic channels.

The SSP this week announced it was to sell programmatic guaranteed opportunities on behalf of the 250,000-plus App Store developers, in somewhat questionable circumstances, as the initial press release was taken down by Rubicon (presumably at the behest at the notoriously controlling App Store owner), only to later be replaced by an amended version.

Gregory R. Raifman, president, Rubicon Project, said: “We look forward to providing buyers with access to iAd’s unprecedented audience targeting capabilities and our full-stack direct order automation solution.”
Apple’s iAd provides 400-plus targeting options to advertisers, based on hundreds of millions of validated iTunes accounts worldwide.

This rich first-party data asset makes it easy for buyers to target the specific mobile audiences of their choice.

Apple's iAd business remains a small part of its revenue figures, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed recently, this is despite having launched four years ago, with the company's cofounder Steve Jobs then predicting that it would soon hold sway of over 50% of the mobile advertising market. It doesn't.

This move represents the first time that Apple is willing to loosen its control over its first-party iTunes data with advertisers expected to be willing to pay top dollar.

However, does the bungled press announcement auger some potentially stormy weather head for the iPhone manufacturer, which is oft loathe to hand over any measure of control of its ecosystem to third parties? No doubt, both trade and mainstream press will be closely scrutinising Apple's programmatic advertising business in a bid to generate salacious, traffic-generating headlines.

Ve and GDM Digital deal signifies martech incursion

This week VE announced the acquisition of fellow UK-based outfit GDM Digital in a $12m deal, that will see all 42 of the latter’s staff transfer to Ve as it expands its digital advertising division.

Ed Stevens, GDM Digital CEO, will join Ve as commercial director, with GDM staff transferring to Ve, although they will continue to trade as GDM Digital in the short term. In the mid term, GDM will be absorbed into the VeAds offering.

The UK-founded – and self-styled 'ecommerce conversion company' – can justifiably be defined as a martech firm, and with the purchase of performance-based real-time bidding (RTB) specialist GDM Digital is expanding its portfolio of services, bringing its client-base to over 6,000 businesses.

As a result of the deal, GDM will offer the VePlatform, including VeGenie, plus other aspects of the VeAds proposition.

The benefits of using a more comprehensive platform is that it naturally de-dupes customer data ensuring the merchant only pays once for retargeting, or remarking, and not twice as they would if the solutions were offered by two different vendors, according to David J. Brown, CEO and co-founder of Ve.

Martech firms buying their way into the ‘traditional’ ad tech space spells major competition, on the horizon for both pure-play ad tech firms, as well as agencies, according to sources.

Sometimes ad tech is just about managing expectations 

In a two-part interview, ExchangeWire caught up with Nate Woodman (pictured left), IPONWEB’s recently appointed GM of demand solutions, to discuss how his role was created to help bolster the ad tech firm’s profile in the US.

In the first instalment he lifted the lid on IPONWEB’s designs on the US, plus explained his stance on the much mooted ‘ad tech power game’, plus in the second he focused on IPONWEB’s bid to reduce the inherent tensions within automated media trading.

In it, he said: "Although, yes, we do want to be here [in the US] for the people that start looking and are then able to find us. It’s a fine balance, we don’t want to hide. Almost everything we have [in terms of new business] is in-bound, and we want to be able to have conversations with people in the market.

"As a company, we have two engineering centres in both Moscow, and the more recent one in Berlin, which we intend to staff with about 40-50 engineers over the next year. Some of these employees will migrate from Russia, but the majority will be hired locally.

Over a longer period of time, that same model will probably be extended to here in the US."

Separately, discussing the trend towards 'closed ecosystems' he said: " If Google or Facebook are going to create a more closed environment, then that’s just a reality for the market.

"The real question for people to ask themselves is: ‘What will make them change?’ Would it be if WPP said, ‘I don’t want to buy media like that any more!’? Maybe.

"Would those companies be more open if there was an advertiser that had their own technology? Maybe they would be more willing to integrate then?

"There’s a big question over why Facebook and Google are doing this."

Millennial Media primed for programmatic push

US-based Millennial Media has announced the appointment of mobile advertising veteran Paul Gubbins (pictured right) as its head of programmatic for EMEA, building on its purchase of Nexage in the region.

The  hire will help Millennial Media in aligning its go-to-market strategies to the automated buying and selling of advertising, as well as increasing its focus outside of North America, with Gubbins reporting directly to Zac Pinkham, Millennial Media, MD, EMEA.

Gubbins will be responsible for accelerating the company’s position on programmatic in EMEA, as well as providing insight and guidance to advertising clients and publishers.

Joining from Adbrain, he also held a number of senior leadership positions – at organisations including Weve, the Rubicon Project and StrikeAd – and is a founding member of the IAB UK Mobile RTB Working Group.

Earlier in the year, Millennial Media agreed to acquire mobile supply-side platform (SSP) Nexage in a deal worth $107.5m, claiming the purchase formed part of his ambition to offer a 'full-stack solution' to advertisers.

Nexage is connected to over 225 programmatic buyers and networks, and the addition of its wares to Millennial Media’s current offering means it can offer advertisers the ability to buy ad impressions using either programmatic direct deals, or via private exchange and open auctions.

PubMatic expands European presence with Italian hire

US-based PubMatic this week announced the appointment of Andrea Campana to the newly created role of country manager for Italy to build on its 2013 launch of its global sell-side platform (SSP) in the country through a strategic partnership with local ad tech outfit ehi!

Campana has experience scaling businesses across both Europe and other territories, prior joining PubMatic, he served for five years as Senior Vice President at Zodiak Active, expanding its operations across Italy, Spain and the UK through the launch of Zodiak Advertising. He joined Zodiak Media Group from Neo Networks, where he led its operations in the US and Brazil, in his then role as managing director.

John Stoneman, PubMatic, VP, EMEA, said: “Andrea’s appointment comes at a time when programmatic ad spend in Italy is poised for significant growth."