Amid DMP Merger Mania, Brands Face A Changed Marketplace - AdExchanger: News and Views on Data-Driven Digital Advertising– AdExchanger

Amid DMP Merger Mania, Brands Face A Changed Marketplace - AdExchanger: News and Views on Data-Driven Digital Advertising– AdExchanger



Summary:

Nielsen acquired eXelate

Oracle acquired BlueKai and Datalogix

Acxiom acquired LiveRamp



Nielsen will use eXelate’s technology to connect traditional television measurement with digital advertising metrics to generate a digital version of the gross rating point. That would put Nielsen in a prime position to be the go-to measurement source as we move closer to addressable TV.



Oracle, a traditionally dominant player in enterprise marketing, went after Blue Kai and Datalogix to become more relevant in digital ad tech. The growing importance of cross-device tracking and targeting inspired both acquisitions, particularly Datalogix.



For marketers, this new wave of DMP consolidation adds an additional layer of evaluation to their due diligence. I see several key criteria that brands should weigh as they determine the best route forward, regardless of particular KPIs and objectives.

Data Architecture:  having analytics experts sculpt or “architect” the optimal segments for a brand.

Audience Activation: For marketers with multiple activation points through partnerships with several buying platforms, it is critical to partner with a DMP that has the dexterity to syndicate audience segments to all of the relevant activation partners, including but not limited to first-party data and/or third-party data cookies.

Cross-Device Capability:Whatever data models are conceived by the DMP need to be applicable across channels, and the data gleaned across channels need to be ported back into the DMP and attributed to specific users consistently

Portability:  it is critical that any new DMP partner offers a painless mechanism to facilitate transfer of all brand data from one DMP to another. There have been on occasion horror stories of marketers losing years of data because their DMP partners were ill-equipped to make seamless transfers.