The Big Story: The Data Deluge At CES

The Big Story is a breezy podcast featuring a roundtable of AdExchanger editors talking about the biggest stories from the past week. It is available wherever you subscribe to podcasts.

The desert sun rises in Las Vegas, emerging from the eastern horizon like a roll-up LG OLED TV. The device manufacturers – reps from TV and auto companies – lurch toward the convention center. Meanwhile, media buyers and sellers shake off the headache of last night’s party and make their way to their suites at the Cosmopolitan and Aria, where they will hold court.

CES is upon us. And it’s time to make some deals.

This week on “The Big Story,” the AdExchanger team previews CES, from Google’s attempt to push its Assistant into more products and more homes to Apple’s attempt to establish itself as a bastion of consumer privacy – a claim that, let’s face it, might have some problems.

Also, Turner Broadcasting will now have access to AT&T first-party data, courtesy of the Xandr ad unit. Specifically, the Turner ad platform AudienceNOW will access AT&T set-top box data for both linear and digital, and advertisers on its digital properties can tap into 30 Xandr-created segments.

The team talks about what Xandr’s announcement means and how exactly marketers can apply these new capabilities. It’s a particularly significant development since we’re finally seeing AT&T telco data become available to advertisers. While this shouldn’t come as a surprise, that potential never emerged when Verizon bought what became Oath (and now is no more).

On the other hand, with numerous negative news stories about carrier data being sold, does AT&T need to tread carefully?