Christopher Heine

It seems counterintuitive that advertisers would be interested in anonymity-based platforms in an age of Facebook hypertargeting.

Vegas.com is the latest in a string of brands to bet on incognito platforms such as smartphone app Anomo, after Whisper, Hulu and Universal Pictures.

Not everyone sees the light on dark social. Harley Block, brand development svp at agency Rokkan, predicted some marketers will wait until there is more scale. But he also hinted that anonymous platforms do have a Vegas kind of appeal.

Quantcast, a San Francisco-based audience measurement company, is meshing consumer Web and mobile app behavior with an eye on making real-time ad buying more targeted.

Its new data-reporting system, dubbed Audience Interests, is aimed at digital publishers and has recently been tested by BlogAds, the proprietor of highly trafficked PerezHilton.com.

The Media Rating Council is adopting a viewability metric, or “currency,” for online video ads that defines when viewable display impressions count. It’s the industry’s first attempt to address the problem of brands paying publishers for ads no one sees. While the industry generally welcomes the development, the fine print causes some concern.

Marketers are unhappy for the call to pay for ads when they’re only watched for two seconds and in cases where only half the video player is viewable in the browser.

“It’s way too short,” said Kevin Scholl, digital marketing manager at Red Roof Inn. “We want to set the metric, but does the starting point have to be so low?”

Amy Dickerson, VP, digital director at Spark SMG -- who is already negotiating deals for her clients using the MRC’s metric -- agreed. “Two seconds is not, by any means, a great representation of a 15-second [ad],” she said. “But it’s better than what we had.”

Media Rating Council (MRC) recently lifted its 18-month-old advisory against selling digital ads based on whether they are measurably viewed by consumers.

It’s a move that will likely reshape the $50 billion ad marketplace and pit publishers against brands, while putting in motion a surge in the number of online promotions sold on viewability metrics -- pricing that functions on how frequently ads are seen by viewers.

The metrics, or “currency” in industry vernacular, are often dictated by MRC-approved vendors comScore, Moat, Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify. Now, one company will be combining all four of the MRC-accredited vendors into one product.

Univision is launching an English-language video channel called TheFlama with an eye on Hispanics between ages 15 and 30. Condom maker Trojan is the cross-programming launch partner for the online endeavor, while McDonald's is sponsoring the funny-minded show, Super Accurate Soccer History.

The initiative builds on the youngster-targeted, English-language television channel, Fusion, which Univision debuted last fall in conjunction with Disney. The developments underscore a widely held belief among marketers that Hispanic teens and young adults speak Spanish with their families while addressing their friends in English. At the same time, it is the media company's first online attempt at corralling this particular millennial set, which increasingly consumes video via smartphones and tablets.

"It's about digital, short-form and mobile," explained Steven Benanav, general manager for Flama, a new Univision department. "The programming will [utilize comedic] vernacular used on the Internet."

Seventy-six percent of marketers do not utilize behavioral data in either segmentation analysis or targeting, per a Razorfish study called The State of Always-On Marketing that surveyed 685 C-suite executives.

In this so-called Big Data era, that number seems surprisingly high -- to say the least. Here are a few other findings from the Razorfish's executives-based study, which was sponsored by Adobe and compiled by an unnamed survey vendor:

• Fifty-eight percent considered themselves strong at targeting experiences to segmented groups, while only 38 percent believed they are capable of targeting prospects versus returning customers. Stein said the disparity between the numbers "makes it clear there's a disconnect between [audience] segmentation development and execution."
• Just 13 percent said their companies are pushing segmented experiences and measuring the results.
• Less than 5 percent believe they are managing experiences for an "always-on" consumer.