I wish I had one more data story but we’ll have to settle for learning that out of home ad marketplace AdQuick has partnered with Catalina to target and measure OOH ads based on Catalina’s individual-level purchase data. It’s a major step beyond the usual OOH measurements based on broad demographics and foot traffic. While targeting will be based on historic information, the purchase information will be updated in real time.
Since we’ve already started down the data geek rabbit hole, here’s news that data quality vendor Monte Carlo has raised a $60 million Series C, bringing their total to $101 million. Monte Carlo’s super power is making it easier for data engineers and analysts to monitor the quality of data as it moves through company pipelines. That’s called “data observability” and quite a few companies do it.
A hacker group that has stolen in the past from Microsoft, Mashable and others, claims it is selling data from more than 70 million AT&T customers on the dark web. AT&T, which has seen samples, says they don’t think the data came from their systems.
It’s tough to get brand safety right, but the industry keeps trying. IPG Mediabrands announced a new set of tools to find and block inappropriate ad placements, while IAS expanded its suitability measurements to include standards from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Meanwhile, DoubleVerify admitted a mistake made brand safety on X/Twitter look worse than it really was in October 2023 and March 2024.