Spotify just bought Whooshkaa, another Australian firm. They have a platform that converts audio content like radio broadcasts into on-demand podcasts, handling everything from hosting to promotion to monetization to measurement. It’s part of Spotify’s on-going push into the podcast industry.
It’s acquisitions all the way down today, Dear Reader. GumGum, which applies computer vision and natural language processing to analyze online content for contextual ad targeting, has purchased Australia-based Playground xyz, which uses eye-tracking technology to measure how much time people spend looking at ads. I guess there are still humans involved somewhere.
I was hoping for an all-Australia edition, or at least all-obscure-company-names. But IDG Communications blew it by buying LeadSift, which is Canadian and does what its name suggests: they scan the Web to identify relevant leads for their clients. It’s IDG’s third acquisition in eighteen months as they expand their ability to deliver B2B marketing and sales data.
Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation. The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.