← AdTechGod Pod
AdTechGod Pod
The Refresh News: Breaking Down the $500M Mediaocean-Innovid Deal: What It Means for Advertisers
00:12:43
Loading summary
Transcript28 lines
- [00:00]
AdTech God
Welcome to today's episode of the Refresh breaking news by AdTech God. The refresh is where we bring you the latest and greatest news from the advertising industry. Today's episode is sponsored by Azerian. Azerion is one of the world's leading full stack digital advertising partners for 300 plus agencies and more than 2500 brands. Their proprietary platform, Azerian Infinity seamlessly integrates the capabilities of owned and operated dsp, ssp, DMP and ad server technologies to drive incremental performance value and efficiency across the full marketing funnel. Azerian offers custom audience activation, leveraging cookuless identity data and contextual signals to engage users across all digital mediums. Choose between direct or PMP activation paths, leveraging a world class team to deliver top of plan results. Welcome to today's episode of the refresh by AdTech God where we bring you the latest and greatest in advertising news. Today we're diving into a major shakeup. Another one Today we have MediaOcean is acquiring Innovid in a $500 million deal. This acquisition promises to give advertisers more control over their data and reshape how ad performance is managed. So joining us today, Aaron Goldman, Chief marketing officer of MediaOcean and Danny Cushion, the CMO of Innovid, are here to break it all down. Welcome to the pod.
- [01:30]
Danny Cushion
Thanks atg. Great to be here.
- [01:33]
Aaron Goldman
Long time listener. All it took, I guess was us doing a massive transaction to be able to get ourselves featured here.
- [01:40]
AdTech God
But my threshold's 500 million so you guys just made the money.
- [01:43]
Danny Cushion
Nailed it. We got it. We made it.
- [01:45]
AdTech God
Add a penny on there. We're good. We're over the minimum. A lot of people are asking questions. So everybody's asking what this means for the industry, what this means for advertisers, what this means for the fight against Walled Gardens. So I'll kind of kick this over to you, Aaron. This is a pretty big deal for MediaOcean. What led you to the decision to bring Innovate on board and what market gaps are you looking to fill with this deal?
- [02:10]
Aaron Goldman
Yeah, well, Mediaocean's, you know, been on this journey a long time. 1967, when the company was founded down in Data Systems and then merging with Media bank to become MediaOcean. And then in the ensuing years kind of moving where, you know, traditional media into digital. And then of course you had the trends from walled gardens and now into CTV and retail media being some of the fastest growing. Our mission has been to just continue to create workflow tools, software that help Advertisers and their agencies across the end to end process. And so we've had to continually innovate and that's through building and that's also in some cases through buying. And so starting in 2020, when I joined the company through the 4C acquisition, that was really about getting into the walled gardens. 4C had built a social ads platform and then the following year we bought Flash Talking and that was really foundational shift to take the company from into open web and of course CTV and being able to do more real time decisioning at the creative level as opposed to just focusing so much on media. So we've really been trying to bridge the gap between creative and media and then here we are now, three years later, kind of doubling down on that value proposition within a bid that's, you know, been a major player since 2007. Is that right, Danny?
- [03:32]
Danny Cushion
Yeah, 17 years. Yeah. Yep.
- [03:34]
Aaron Goldman
So, you know, we've both been at it a long time, kind of coming at the same market opportunity, which is to provide an independent ad serving solution, a neutral, unbiased alternative to Google and some of the other big tech platforms. And so this is really about us being able to double down Innovid Flash talking, put these pieces together and give the industry a solution that's going to help create a thriving ecosystem.
- [03:57]
AdTech God
You know, this question is for you, Danny. Nvidia's a very big player in the connected TV space and in measurement. You know, how, how is teaming up with Media Ocean going to help drive that mission and impact for advertisers? And how are you going to drive it to the next level for them?
- [04:11]
Danny Cushion
Yeah, it's a great question. I think since joining this company, one of the reasons I came here almost a year ago, I joined just about almost a year anniversary. So this is a fun anniversary present. But this company has since day one really been all about innovation. And the innovation that drives what we do makes this a really nice fit because a lot of what has been happening with CTV with viewers shifting over, we have all these secular tailwinds with eyeballs shifting over. But the combination here is going to be really interesting because I think these parties are really complementary with what we do from both an ad serving and creative and delivery and measurement and what, what Mediaocean brings and what Flash Talking has. It's going to be fun to join forces because I think what we're actually going to bring to clients is going to be, as Erin said, this sort of nice, independent, holistic offering that doesn't have the biases of Buying or selling media that always is going to be able to put clients needs first. And so where we have strengths and flash talking has strengths, we're going to be a really good force in the market because I think we're going to be able to meet clients needs in a way that just does provide. I think, as Aaron, you've said nicely, that foundation, you know, we like to say that critical infrastructure that our clients need to build and innovate and have joint roadmaps that they can build on for their own future success. So it's gonna be a lot of fun. We're excited about the path ahead.
- [05:35]
AdTech God
You know, we're familiar with the sentiment around walled gardens like Google obviously dominating, you know, specific parts of our ecosystem and doing so and being regulated. And obviously there's been some messaging done from the Department of Justice in terms of what they expect Google to do in the future. Your timing seems to be impeccable. I think it comes at a really good time where Google is being asked to would the right word be disband or be broken apart? How is this neutral alternative for MediaOcean and Innovid going to be so important for advertisers in the market?
- [06:16]
Aaron Goldman
Yeah, ultimately it comes down to choice, control and transparency. And those are things that you tend to lose when you have to operate inside of walled gardens. In the case of Google, the ad tech antitrust suit has a lot to do with how they sort of lock you in between having the dsp, the ssp, the ad exchange, the ad server and within that environment. Again, some of the things that you lose as an advertiser are choice, control and transparency. So the opportunity is here to restore that and do it not just within the walled gardens, but across all channels. Omnichannel has been a crusade that we've been on for quite some time. And so being able to provide that layer, be that anchor for the buy side to be able to see across and move money to where it's working best, independent of any other focus on like publisher yield. And so with the backdrop of, you know, the search trial now, as you said, you know, they're being called for. I think the latest was the Chrome a spin off and so we'll have to see how that works. But search data is so critical to the Google ecosystem and runs all the way through the ad tech stack. And so if you take something like Chrome out, which is such a big source of where search activity is happening, of course, the browser activity, all the cookies, you know, we'll have to see if if it's a new owner or independent Chrome company, are they still going to want to deprecate cookies? Or maybe they're going to want to keep them around because that's, you know, the potential way for them to monetize. I think both Flash Talking and Innovid have been focused on multiple ID cookie list type of solutions to be able to operate in this new environment. So we're kind of able to future proof no matter which way it goes. But in the meantime, it's definitely a mandate for the advertisers and the agencies to seek alternatives like the independent ones that we offer.
- [08:03]
Danny Cushion
Could I double down on that? Atg? I think part of. Not to speak for Aaron, but I know for myself, like part of being a CMO in this world that is such fun is that we're amongst our people, we're marketers too. So when we get to be out in market and speaking with clients and speaking with folks who will work with our platforms, you know, we all have our CFO buddies and we need to make sure that we can show with a straight face and feel really good about where we're investing our dollars. And this is actually an interesting way for the marketers that we work with and the companies that we work with to be able to have an alternative that is independent, where you know that the fox isn't garden, the hen house, but across all media. To Aaron's point. Right. It's like we have, we look at converged tv, but as you play in the omnichannel view, you need to make sure that every single dollar is working as independently, like as well as possible, but with a straight face. The people you're working with can actually verify that. And yeah, I think it's a, it is a good time. The timing is good because we're definitely hearing demand and market for, for what.
- [09:04]
AdTech God
We have as fellow CMOs. How are you guys feeling about the branding? Is it flush talking? Is it Media Ocean? Is it innovative? Is it flush of it? How are you feeling about combining these brands together? Because you've got quite a few under the Media Ocean umbrella now.
- [09:19]
Aaron Goldman
Well, I think this is. You brought us here for the, for the cage match, right? Atg, we're going to do a little virtual arm wrestle, maybe dance.
- [09:27]
Danny Cushion
Dance off.
- [09:28]
AdTech God
Absolutely. You've never seen me dance, Aaron. It's not good. It's not pretty. It is not pretty.
- [09:34]
Aaron Goldman
Well, here's what I'd say, certainly for, for the time being, until the deal closes, it's business as usual. So we've Got two independent companies, two brands, two platforms, competing vigorously in market to serve our customers. And when the deal closes and the company is coming out, listen, it's a great problem to have. You've got two really well established brands that people know and trust. And so we're going to be very thoughtful about how we put not just the brands together, but of course the people and products as well. There's, you know, an opportunity to kind of take the best of both. I don't know if that means a Flash of it or innotalking.
- [10:09]
Danny Cushion
Innotalking came up a lot today. Yeah, I like, you know, talking.
- [10:13]
Aaron Goldman
We're open to all, you know, a quick. A side note, it's funny, you know, we, with Flash talking, we debated after MediaOcean acquired the company, you know, was the time to change the name. You know, Flash talking started when Flash was the primary, you know, format of on the web. And nowadays, you know, for people who weren't around for that experience and they hear Flash talking, they just think, oh, it's, you know, Flash from dc, you know, so it's, it's a superhero or it's fast. It's just Flash, like fast. And they're like, oh yeah, that's of course what we mean by it. You know, even old brands could be revived and continue to stay relevant. But this is an opportunity to really think about what's going to help convey the value prop and sort of the power of the people and the tools behind these companies.
- [10:54]
AdTech God
Can the logo be a TV with a tongue out thing goes taken.
- [10:58]
Danny Cushion
That's old school mtv. The interesting thing about being two different platform companies coming together too is that this will be a little bit brand pierced, but the name is part of it and the equity is part of it, but the brand is every single interaction that other people have with you. And so what's going to be fun is as we actually, as we do move to close and as we actually start to work together, how do we actually make sure that the client, the client is the driving force for what will inform our brand? And so making sure that every interaction through how we integrate our platforms to what we call ourselves, to how we bring ourselves out and talk about the value, we're going to live it. You know, we're going to live it and it will absolutely be driven by what our clients think and what the market thinks is, is the most valuable. So that every touch point with this can drive some. I won't be, I won't be cleaning houses, but spark some joy, right? It will be sparking some joy and inspire people to take that next step with us. So it's going to be fun to define and make sure that it resonates.
- [11:59]
Aaron Goldman
And we'd certainly welcome ATG. If you want to run a LinkedIn poll and get some votes from your community, we'll take all input into consideration.
- [12:06]
AdTech God
Oh, that's a good idea. Maybe I'll I'm about to post right now that we did this interview, so I'll add a little poll on there of what is a great name for the combination, and we'll get this podcast out as soon as possible. Thank you, Danny, and thank you, Aaron, for responding so quickly to my message. Love that you guys are here and love your flexibility on your schedule.
- [12:27]
Danny Cushion
Always fun. Thank you so much.
- [12:29]
AdTech God
Of course. Thank you.
- [12:30]
Danny Cushion
Okay, bye.