Back to simple acquisitions. Digital video programmatic advertising marketplace RhythmOne is acquiring YuMe, which collects audience data to improve targeting of programmatic ads. Price is $185 million. The lesson here is the importance of giving media buyers more extensive audience data, the better to compete with Facebook, Google, and others who already have detailed profiles.
Jivox, which dynamically assembles personalized advertising messages, announced set of APIs that lets creative, workflow, and media execution tools exchange information about ad campaigns, including personalization strategies, creative assets, and targeting models. This will streamline interactions among separate firms and could ultimately make it easier for artificial intelligence systems to coordinate the process. In fact, Mindshare, a WPP-owned global media agency, is already using it to automate programmatic campaign setup through AppNexus.
Has it already happened: autonomous cars ordering things for themselves, presumably to be delivered by self-guided drones? Not yet: the headline refers to anti-hacking technology to protect autonomous car guidance systems. Of course, the need to protect cars from hacking is itself a sign of the times. The headline makes more sense in Israel, where GPSdome is based, as a reference to the Iron Dome anti-missile system.
Google is facing another antitrust lawsuit, this time in Canada, specifically focusing on anti-competitive practices in online advertising. The Competition Tribunal has been asked to order Google to sell two of its ad tech tools, prohibit future anti-competitive practices and fine the company billions of dollars. In response, Google points to a highly competitive market offering plenty of alternatives.