As I was thinking about how we (Centro) can help publishers solidify the quality of inventory, I came across an story on the IAB’s task force to guard against non-human traffic and fictitious publishers. It’s clear that there are market concerns over the legitimacy and value of the inventory that brand marketers are purchasing. Advertisers are getting more digitally savvy, and as they increase their digital budgets, they’re itching for more guarantees and more accountability. Now, the process of standardizing metrics and guaranteeing viewable impressions may not eradicate the bots, but it certainly is a start.

Heavy buzz continues to swirl as we eagerly count down the days to the most highly anticipated tech toy-filled days of the year. No not Christmas, silly! CES 2013, of course. For those not familiar with what makes the CES convention such a big deal in the tech and electronics industry, I’ll share a little background.

I have always been skeptical about the role that ad executions play in mobile games. Gaming publishers often defend the space by contending smartphone and tablet owners spend a significant amount of their device time in mobile gaming environments. Market research confirms that defense. Gaming authority Newzoo released a report in March of this year citing that the number of US mobile gamers surpassed 100 million, up 35% from the year prior. eMarketer and Comscore similarly released reports this year showcasing gaming ranking amongst the most common mobile activities.

Last month during my web presentation “Viewability: What publishers need to know to compete for dollars,” there were a lot of questions from the audience about whether sites would have to drastically change their layout in order to maintain their premium inventory status once it becomes necessary to transition sites from a “served” to a “viewed” impression measurement standard. At the time, I provided two examples – ESPN and USA Today – of sites that had found success by limiting the number of ad units on their sites and kept their ads either “above the fold” or had them “float” READ MORE

(MediaPost.com) – In 1990, cable TV was growing and media agency executives were incorporating cable channels such as CNN, A&E, ESPN, MTV and Discovery into their national television buys. Buyers moved dollars into cable to keep CPMs low and to follow the audience that was embracing the new content. Less than 10 percent of a television budget would go to cable at the time. Fast-forward 20 years later and ad spending on cable TV networks has grown to more than $21.1 billion — and cable accounts for almost 60 percent of all television viewing.