- Though it had previously struck a deal to use TubeMogul's (NASDAQ:TUBE) video ad-buying platform, snack food giant Mondelez partly opted to use Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) rival DoubleClick Bid Manager platform to run YouTube campaigns following "contentious behind-the-scenes negotiations," TheStreetSweeper reports. Google is believed to have used YouTube's TrueView ad system as leverage.
- An analyst talking with TheStreetSweeper: "It’s clear Tube’s technology is nothing special, since Google did this. And besides Google, there’s a lot of other companies that could do the same."
- TubeMogul CEO Brett Wilson has argued the Google/Mondelez deal is a positive for the online video ad industry at-large, and stated TubeMogul still thinks it "will continue to be used as Mondelez's software for brand advertising and will be the pipes, if you will, to facilitate any of their publisher buys Google or otherwise."
- In addition to the Mondelez deal, TheStreetSweeper cites strong insider selling from CTO Adam Rose (through an automatic trading plan) and steep multiples relative to peers Rocket Fuel and YuMe as reasons to be bearish on TubeMogul. Worth noting: TubeMogul's Y/Y sales growth (112% in Q3) is much stronger than that of either of the cited peers.
- Shares fell 4.5% in regular trading. Q4 results arrive on Feb. 26.