This week I get my pitchfork out. Twitter goes all-in. AT&T sends a message. And I give my 2c about Rubicon.



want to get this in your inbox every friday morning? subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/happensinadops







I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT!!!





AppNexus CEO: ‘Let’s change how the supply chain works’

Ok so at risk of sounding incredibly stupid can someone outline to me who exactly this “adtax middle” consists of? We talk about it so much but I don’t actually know who, specificially, this is in reference to. It feels like some vague evil “they” stealing my lunch money. I want names dammit!



Are we talking about measurement companies like MOAT and IAS? Verification companies? Data companies like Lotame or Experian? Is it the DSPs? Trade desks? DMPs?



Are agencies to blame for their rebates and payment terms? Or are exchanges the baddies with their soft floors and opaque take rates?



Who in the actual fuck are we talking about when we talk about compressing the “middle of the market”? I’ve got my pitchfork ready but I don’t know who I’m supposed to be mad at.





Did Jason Kint Mention “Duopoly” This Week?





Of course he did. He said it seven times this week. But the screenshot above is the other reason this dude annoys me. He tries to pick petty twitter fights (why else “correct” a reporter for something as small as this?) because apparently he doesn’t have anything better to do with his time. What is his job anyway? Has he affected any sort of change? What does this guy do?

Current streak: 10 weeks







Other Articles





Facebook’s Latest News Feed Change Could Push More Publishers To Instant Articles

Ryan’s take: Tell me if this sounds familiar. Big platform responsible for a material amount of publisher referral traffic is changing how it sorts mobile results based on page load speed. Oh and it just so happens to have it’s own “speedy mobile page” method you can use. Isn’t life grand?







A Controversial Ex-banker Is The Person Who Really Runs Twitter — And He’s Gambling The Company’s Future On One Risky Bet

Here’s what I don’t get about Twitter. They probably have the richest data when it comes to putting your finger on the pulse of every geo, political, socio-economic, etc group in the world. Why do I never hear about them investing money into serious NLP? The sheer amount of data produced on their platform is overwhelming I know but it’s their secret sauce. No one else has that.



Anyone can get video. Shit, watching video isn’t even why any of us go to twitter. It doesn’t make sense! Why bet the company on this?!



GroupM North America CEO Brian Lesser to Depart for AT&T Role

Message! AT&T is awaiting approval on its acquisition of Time Warner and now they just hired a huge name in advertising. This week’s BFD.



Rubicon Lowers Fees As Q2 Revenue Slides 39%

Everyone seems to be having fun mocking Rubicon’s Q2 results but I’m going to go the other way with this one. For the first time in a long time Rubicon has (or sounds like it has) a clear vision for how their business will work and what success looks like. Honestly, it makes a lot of sense to me.



They looked around and realized that QPS is a problem even for the biggest DSPs. So they bought a company that specializes in it and plan on offering it as a feature. Not for a cost. They’re dropping their take rates (and being transparent about that) and they’re integrating with TAM.



This is a company that wants to be the Exchange that DSPs want to work with. It’s a different route than say someone like Index who wants to be the Exchange that publishers want to work with. I like it.



Will this work? Will any of it matter? Who knows but it’s a clear, rational vision which is a rare find in adtech. I’m not counting them out… yet.



Reddit Raised $200 Million In Funding And Is Now Valued At $1.8 Billion

I love this and I hate it. I get the idea that Reddit needed the money so I love anything that keeps it alive. I absolutely hate the valuation (limits exits to IPO or… Softbank?).



I’m also not thrilled at the idea of a reddit designed like facebook. I’m not saying I’ll hate it but I have a hard time imagining how they prevent a full user revolt.





Hot Takes



Adtech A Two Part Story



TOP SECRET : Adtech-Blockchain Business Plan





Shameless Self Promotion

Podcast Episode #13 // Jason Burke (clypd)

This week I chat with Jason Burke the VP of Strategy over at clypd. Unlike every other guest on my show Jason doesn’t work in digital, his company instead works in (gasp!) Linear TV. Specifically in what you may have heard called “Programmatic TV” but don’t let Jason hear you call it that. Jason walks me through linear targeting and data and where he sees digital and linear combining.







Thanks for reading and have a great week! Or don’t. I’m not the boss of you.

—

>> want to make your friends & teammates smarter? subscribe them all: https://tinyletter.com/happensinadops