Ah, first-party data. Everybody loves you. That’s why programmatic adtech company TripleLift just spent a reported $150 million to purchase 1plusX, which enriches publisher first-party to create enhanced audience profiles. TripeLift itself was bought one year ago by Vista Equity Partners.
Now, on its 9th installment, the ACM has levied €45 million (of a maximum €50 million) in fines against Apple, payable if its demands are not met.
First-party data is also the punchline of this Advertiser Perceptions study on cross-screen video advertising, for Pubmatic. Most (54%) of the publishers they surveyed said that advertisers care more about targeting audiences across screens than targeting on specific screens. First-party data is what lets that happen. Related: just 28% of programmatic ads are bought on the open market; others go through private marketplaces or negotiated deals, where more data is available.
Salesforce is buying Airkit.ai, which builds low-code, AI-powered e-commerce customer service agents. You might have thought Salesforce could already do that, but presumably Airkit does it better. It doesn’t hurt that the company founders sold a previous business to Salesforce, the company was partly funded by Salesforce Ventures, and the product is already listed on AppExchange. Price was not announced.