ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the European digital advertising space. In this week’s edition: EU threatens data collection of big internet players with scrutiny; Fetch Media takes Uber to court; Sizmek promises total transparency; and New capital for Nano Interactive.

EU antitrust authorities to scrutinise big data

New year, new targets for the EU watchdog. With GDPR well on its way, the EU antitrust authorities are now suggesting that the next item on their list may be big data. Or rather: how the collection and use of big data affects competition.

Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner for Competition

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the EU commissioner for competition, Margrethe Vestager, has criticised how masses of data are being collected by large corporations, allowing the big players to gain competitive advantages in their respective markets. “This data is extremely valuable. They can foreclose the market, they can give the parties that have it immense business opportunities that are not available to others”, the WSJ quotes Vestager.

While the US is currently ignoring the issue, the head of the EU antitrust authorities is keen on tackling the problem of competitive advantage through data collection. The regulatory authorities may even force companies to share their data with competitors, Vestager implied.

In the past, Vestager has already made it clear that she means business: last year the EU ordered Google to pay a £2bn fine because the company had favoured their own shopping comparisons over competitors in Google search results.

Fetch Media sues Uber for payment after ad fraud claims

Last September it was Uber who took Fetch Media to court over claims of ad fraud. Now the British ad agency has turned the tables on the ride-sharing app. According to Reuters, Fetch Media filed against Uber on Tuesday, demanding the company cough up for the overdue advertising bills. Uber refused payment, alleging that the ads generated via Fetch had been fraudulent.

The new court case refers back to the original case in September 2017. Back then, Uber alleged that Fetch Media had invoiced the cab-hailing app for downloads even though no ads had been clicked. Citing damages of more than USD$50m (£36.87m), Uber claimed to have paid more than USD$82.5m (£60.84m) to Fetch despite the company failing to stop ad fraud. Other accusations involved the environment where Uber’s ads were being displayed.

Fetch Media is now claiming USD$19.7m (£14.53m) in unpaid invoices, calling Uber a “faithless business partner”. Fetch also says that they helped Uber acquire more than 35 million new users.

As part of the new lawsuit, Fetch Media hopes to have the previous judge reassigned to the case in order to clarify the contractual responsibilities of the involved parties. The case has been brought before the same federal court in California where the initial lawsuit had been heard.

Uber has not yet commented on the new case.

Sizmek wants to offer 'total transparency'

Committing to more transparency for their clients, Sizmek is promising transparent pricing across its media, creative, data, technology, and service-related costs. This is to help agencies and advertisers gain deeper insight into the costs of AI-driven campaign performance – a move the company hopes will set a new standard in an industry often criticised for its hidden pricing and selective access to campaign insights.

David Gosen, GM EMEA, Sizmek

Commenting to ExchangeWire, David Gosen, GM EMEA, Sizmek, explains the idea behind the changes: “Sizmek has set a new standard for transparency, combatting an industry-wide reputation for unclear pricing and selective access to campaign insights. When our goal should be optimum results for clients and advertisers, why hold back when it comes to revealing the deep insights that will ensure they can reach customers at any point on their journey, increase conversions, and improve ROI? Now our AI-powered ad platform empowers agencies and advertisers with the full transparency they need to succeed – without compromising on control or performance.

“Everything we do as an ad tech company, and collectively as an industry, should be about achieving optimum results for advertisers and media agencies. There’s no point in having access to all this data if we don’t share the knowledge and insights that will provide better understanding of the customer journey, improved performance, higher audience engagement, and ROI. Total transparency is the answer.”

According to a recent study by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), 90% of advertisers review programmatic ad contracts with a view to looking for providers with transparent pricing. The study also revealed that by offering greater transparency into the fully loaded cost of a media plan, agencies felt they could better evaluate and communicate ROI to their clients.

Nano Interactive receives £3.5m funding

Targeting specialist and DMP Nano Interactive is collecting new investment. Backed by venture capital investors Foresight, the network wants to invest the new capital into their international expansion, as well as developing their sales, marketing, and product departments.

Carl White, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer; and Christian Geyer, Co-Founder & CEO, Nano Interactive

“We are thrilled to be working with Foresight to accelerate our expansion across Europe and thus consolidate our leadership in the prospecting search targeting market. The series A investment marks an important stage in our development”, says Christian Geyer, co-founder and CEO, Nano Interactive.

Speaking to ExchangeWire, Carl White, co-founder and chief strategy officer, explains that Nano Interactive’s key goal is to expand the company’s teams in existing markets such as UK, Germany, France, and Poland, with a particular focus on building up their sales and marketing operations. Says White: “Advertisers are embracing intent-based planning. The ForeSight investment will help us to build more products that deliver this in a transparent and brand-safe environment.”

The investment is also earmarked to support the rollout of INSIST, Nano’s brand-safe solution for advertisers. Nano is Foresight VCT’s seventh investment in the past 12 months and represents Foresight’s first foray back into the tech sector.