Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web.
IAB study of programmatic advertising: In a new survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), programmatic ad revenue exceed $10-billion. But exact measurements are difficult becaus of conflicting definition of programmatic, and lack of transparency. Interestingly, according to an Ad Age write-up, only 10 companies accounted for two-thirds of all that revenue. Almost all the programmatic activity is in display and video advertising. Audio programmatic is in early days.
A look at Alibaba’s music expansion: Alibaba is China’s big force in business, and it has aspirations to take over the entertainment world too. Variety has a profile on the company’s launch of a music division, which is being helmed by two veterans of China’s music industry. This division will run Alibaba’s two music streaming services.