Digital Ad Firms Expand Staff As Market Resumes Growth

Despite continued difficulties in the wider employment market, companies in the digital advertising sphere are aggressively recruiting talent. A plethora of vacancies across the market -on both the sales and agency side – this January suggests the slowdown of the past two years is officially over, and the market is once again returning to a healthy rate of growth.

“The market is definitely picking up again for us. Even in the worst times digital was quite active, but the trend is certainly on an upward trajectory,” commented Tim Cecere, human resources director for WPP-owned agency conglomerate GroupM. “This year compared to last year we are more aggressive, and much more aggressive than two years ago,” he added.

Digital agency R/GA lists over 60 vacancies for its New York office, 13 for its San Francisco office, and nine for its base in Chicago. Rival agency ZenithOptimedia says it chose to hire last year in an attempt to beat its competition to the talent. “We took advantage of the market and hired around 35 staff on the digital side,” said John Nitti, the company’s SVP and Managing Director of integrated planning. “We have about 12 or 15 vacancies open right now, and we’re also focusing on staff retention.”

Read More: ClickZ

DSPs and real-time bidding: six trends to keep an eye on

Econsultancy’s Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) Buyer’s Guide has been published this week, which contains a detailed analysis of how real-time bidding (RTB) and DSPs are revolutionising the online advertising sector.

The 133-page report, which has a global focus and profiles of 16 DSPs, describes developments in the industry, with information about the main players and advice about how to find the right platform.

Here, I’ve tried to summarise some of the main points in the report into six key trends.

Static algorithms and transactions, bundle-purchasing of impressions and pre-negotiated prices will soon become a thing of the past.

Much of the display advertising market growth is driven by the recent developments in auction-based media and the increasing number of platforms facilitating real-time bidding transactions.

Impression-level bidding, predictive targeting and dynamic inventory allocation are just some of the hottest buzz phrases in the display advertising ecosystem as interest in demand-side platforms has intensified.

Read More: Econsultancy