Video Ad Networks Embrace Retargeting

Video ad retargeting is emerging as a new way for direct response advertisers to leverage in-stream video advertising. Still largely nascent, the practice is showing signs of wider use by ad buyers as a means of recapturing leads and boosting ad effectiveness. As one might gather from the name, video retargeting is a variation of display ad retargeting – a practice frequently used by online retailers and other direct marketers to deliver ads to shopping cart abandoners and other non-converting site visitors while they’re surfing other properties. A subcategory of behavioral targeting, retargeting is common on large ad networks and exchanges such as ValueClick, Advertising.com and Right Media. But it hasn’t been widely offered by video ad networks. Until recently, that is. A growing number of video ad networks have lately rolled out the capability. They include YuMe, Tremor Media, and SpotXchange. Google does not yet offer retargeting on its in-stream video ad network, but an exec told ClickZ that it may do so in 2010.

Read More: ClickZ

Tumri CEO Calvin Lui Discusses Marketing Analytics Offering

AdExchanger.com: It would seem that Tumri could use these new tools to create its own demand-side platform. How much longer until you pull the trigger on the Tumri DSP?

CL: At a high level, Tumri’s mission is to provide marketers with a dynamic marketing platform that offers the following capabilities:

• Deeper marketing insights
• End-to-end, real-time decisioning
• Efficient execution

Today, Tumri is mainly known for our dynamic creative optimization technology. But we’ve also been asked to, and have delivered, media buying and optimization services for some of our clients. Media buying and optimization has not been our core competency, but for certain clients it is critical that we tightly integrate their media and creative optimization to accomplish their goals. So, we can offer a combined offering if an advertiser wants such an option. In our view, though, a demand side platform (DSP) is just one of the components of the end-game in “next generation” display advertising. Current discussions about DSPs revolve mostly around data-driven, real-time access to media inventory via exchanges and real-time bidding (RTB) environments. In addition to exchange and RTB executions, however, we believe that the long term solution will continue to need a way to marry analytics and thought processes across contract media buys, too. Dynamic creative works across all media executions and is a critical part of the end-game, as well.

Read More: AdExchanger

Google Buzz Could Become Web’s Open Social Hub

On the surface it may appear that Google simply created Buzz as a social network add-on for Gmail. But in reality the Mountain View, Calif. search engine launched the beginning of a hub that could eventually connect to forums, third-party PC and mobile applications, as well as other social sites. Google recognizes the need to allow data and people to seamlessly travel between portals and Web sites. Gmail Buzz users will get a better picture of that soon. In a Buzz post, Google Software Engineer DeWitt Clinton directs followers to code in Buzz Labs who want to better understand Google’s social network API strategy. It explains how the social network will connect with other sites and information through a variety of protocols, such as Activity Streams, Atom, AtomPub, MediaRSS, WebFinger, PubSubHubbub, Salmon, OAuth, and XFN.

Read More: MediaPost