On to cheerier topics. Mobile ad platform LoopMe sold a majority stake to growth investor Mayfair Equity Partners for $120 million. LoopMe uses AI to optimize media campaign delivery in real time across mobile, connected TV, digital audio, digital out-of-home, and other fun channels.
In today’s edition of Big Tech Behaving Badly, new filings in a multi-state anti-trust lawsuit show Google gamed its ad auctions to underpay publishers and overcharge advertisers. The dispute seems less about what they did than whether it was illegal.
Staying cheerful, this Treasure Data survey confirms that social commerce is here to stay: 84% of respondents said they made at least one purchase on social media in the past year. Bonus puzzle: 83% say they’d share contact data such as email and phone for discounts and other benefits, but 58% also say they never share data due to privacy concerns.
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.