Adconion Direct
Amobee CEO Kim Perell.
1. Singapore telco Singtel acquired Turn. Amobee, the ad tech division of the mobile carrier spent $310 million to acquire the demand-side platform, which also offers a data management, and analytics platform.
2. The CEO of Awesomeness TV is stepping down. Brian Robbins didn't say why he was stepping down from the YouTube video network, in which Comcast, Verizon, and Hearst all have stakes.
3. TBWA bought a majority stake in British agency Lucky Generals. According to Campaign, the deal values the independent creative agency at £40 million ($49.9 million). Omnicom will form a new group combining TBWA\London with its new acquisition.
4. Criteo released its Q4 earnings, beating analysts' expectation. The company's fourth quarter revenue ex-TAC grew by 33% to $213 million.
5. Online brands were the biggest spenders on UK television ads in 2016. Internet companies collectively spent $757 million (£639 million) on British TV commercials last year.
6. Grey resigned its business with Coty. AdAge reported the WPP agency ended its relationship with the beauty group, which owns Covergirl and Wella, because of financial differences.
7. Overtime raised $2.5 million to build the ESPN of smartphone footage. Its founder, Dan Porter, sold his last startup, OMGPOP, for $200 million to Zynga.
8. Instagram now lets users post photo albums. The latest update of the Facebook-owned app allows users to include up to 10 photos in one post.
9. Apple's new UK ads for its Airpods hint at a shift in its advertising strategy. The company recently asked its agency, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, to focus more on local and digital content.
10. This is how much it costs to air an ad on TV in the UK. Spending on television ads is expected to make up 21.5% of all British advertising spend in 2020, according to data from eMarketer.