ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the US/Canadian digital advertising space. In this week’s edition: Evidon bought by CrownPeak; Outbrain buys Zemanta; Zeta partners with AppNexus; FOX Television Stations partner with WideOrbit; TouchTunes and DOmedia partnership; and Synthesio acquires Social Karma

CrownPeak buys Evidon

Evidon, a privacy compliance company based in New York, has been bought by technology company CrownPeak, for a deal estimated to be worth USD$50m (£38m), reported by MediaPost. Evidon is known as one of the companies that issues licenses for Digital Advertising Alliances’s AdChoices icon, that lets consumers know when information about their interests may be collected or used for relevant advertising. Scott Meyer, CEO, Evidon, had previously said that these licenses account for 45% of their current business, and the remaining 55% comes from business-to-business enterprise services that include helping advertisers comply with global privacy rules.

This deal comes as there is recently more interest in regulation technology companies due to the new regulations in Europe and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that goes into effect in less than a year. As this purchase was happening, Evidon launched their ‘first commercial grade’ GDPR solution, replacing their previous compliance platform to address the new EU cookie law.

Outbrain acquires Zemanta

Outbrain, a content discovery platform based in New York, has purchased a Slovenian native DSP, Zemanta, giving Zemanta the ability to grow its current business, serve their existing brands, agencies, and marketers, and expand globally. Outbrain’s offering will now benefit from Zemanta’s ability to bid based on predicted user engagement and access some of the largest native supply opportunities globally.

Gilad de Vries, SVP Strategy, Outbrain

Gilad de Vries, SVP strategy at Outbrain, tells ExchangeWire: "Outbrain started native advertising to create a better option for marketers, one where audience engagement is the currency and not just a byproduct. Our recommendation algorithms are designed to find the right users who will read, view, and interact with a brand's message. Zemanta shares this user-first vision for native advertising. They are the only DSP that can serve native ads based on factors that go beyond the standard targeting attributes you often hear about. Zemanta actually predicts when, where, and to whom a piece of native advertising is going to be most engaging. As we started working with them as a channel partner, we quickly found they had the best technology, an amazing team, and a clear vision that aligns with ours. With Zemanta's assets and access to 30 different supply partners, Outbrain now makes it easier than ever for marketers to tap into the power of native advertising. Our goal is to deliver user engagement at a scale that has never before been seen in digital advertising.”

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Zeta Global partners with AppNexus

Zeta Global, a marketing cloud technology company, is partnering with advertising technology company, AppNexus, to help enterprises take advantage of emerging technologies, gain more accountability from their digital marketing spend, and have the ability to tie online to offline behaviour. This enhanced programmatic solution will be integrated into Zeta’s ZetaHub, and made available to existing AppNexus clients.

Steven Gerber, President & COO, Zeta Global

"The partnership with AppNexus underscores the convergence of Digital Marketing and CRM", Steven Gerber, president and COO of Zeta Global, tells ExchangeWire. "As first-party data becomes addressable across a broader range of digital channels, marketers are seeking new solutions to extract more value from their first-party data. By seamlessly integrating AppNexus inventory and tools into ZetaHub, we give our clients access to a single console to manage all digital messaging and measure KPIs.”

“In today’s fragmented media supply landscape, it is critical that marketers have an integrated channel strategy in order to better connect with their audiences through more relevant, higher impact marketing”, said Brian O’Kelley, CEO of AppNexus. “We are excited to partner with Zeta Global, as their integration with our open platform enables their people-based marketing solution to reach consumers across the internet.”

FOX Television Stations partner with WideOrbit for programmatic TV

WideOrbit, a technology company for media companies, has partnered with FOX Television Stations to provide premium local broadcast advertising inventory through WideOrbit’s WO Programmatic solutions.

FOX Television Stations Group is the largest local broadcast group in the United States, with 28 stations in 17 markets, covering 37% of US television households, and is the first to commit publicly to programmatic advertising sales. FOX Stations will now offer programmatic advertising sales through an open marketplace on FOX stations-controlled ad inventory, programmatic direct with selected ad buyers, and an integration with CoreMedia Systems for direct-response ad buyers to place orders programmatically.

Eric Mathewson, Founder & CEO, WideOrbit

Eric Mathewson, founder and CEO, WideOrbit, tells ExchangeWire: “There is a rising tide of interest in programmatic TV among ad buyers and station groups. The breakthrough is coming now because both sides are realising that programmatic will be additive to their revenue and complement their sales processes rather than supplant them. FOX Television Stations are on the leading edge here, and we’re looking forward to helping them take advantage of programmatic to connect with new advertisers and bring more efficiency to their relationships with their valued clients.”

“Based on our tests over the last year, we are convinced that programmatic advertising will be a complementary additional sales channel for our stations. Opening a programmatic sales channel is a clear win for everyone involved in the media-buying process and we’re proud to be the first network-owned-and-operated group to offer it to our buying partners”, said Jim Burke, president of sales, FOX Television Stations.

TouchTunes & DOmedia partner

Interactive music and entertainment platform, TouchTunes Media, has partnered with DOmedia, a technology company focused on buying and selling OOH media, and Rubicon Project, to allow advertisers to execute programmatic advertising across TouchTunes’ digital out-of-home (OOH) advertising network. This partnership makes TouchTunes the largest supplier of programmatic out-of-home advertising inventory in the US.

Ken Sahlin, CEO, DOmedia

In May 2017, global advertising exchange, Rubicon Project, announced its partnership with DOmedia to integrate and allow media vendors that use DOmedia’s SSP to sell advertising programmatically using Rubicon’s exchange. TouchTunes Media is the first vendor to take advantage of this integration.

"The growth of out-of-home is a testament to its value – a great CPM in a format that can't be ignored", Ken Sahlin, CEO of DOmedia tells ExchangeWire. "By integrating the industry's supply side with omnichannel programmatic platforms, we're ensuring out-of-home won't be left behind as digital advertising continues to drive client expectations around data and efficiency.”

Synthesio acqires Social Karma

'Social intelligence and social listening' platform, Synthesio, has acquired global audience insights platform, Social Karma, to continue building their Social Analytics suite, giving social data to build audience personas, provide audience insights and channel analysis, to Synthesio’s users in real time. Acquiring Social Karma will help Synthesio address issues like social media performance, audience intelligence, content marketing, and media planning.

Loic Moisand, CEO and co-founder, Synthesio said: "From the moment we started Synthesio, our goal has always been, and continues to be, to create a best-in-class global Social Intelligence platform and experience for customers. This is why, starting in January of this past year, we've been in the midst of an aggressive two-year acquisition strategy, as we work to build an industry-leading global Social Insights and Analytics suite. With Social Karma, our customers will be able to build the most accurate audience personas using social data instead of traditional surveys, while also being able to receive incredible analysis on their owned channels as well. Synthesio will continue on its mission to transform customer experience methodologies from the analog era into scalable technologies of the digital era."

Social Karma’s team, headquartered in Brussels, will continue to operate from that office, which is now Synthesio's newest global location.