INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Thank you for welcoming me into you inbox yet again.Last week, I talked about Juul’s unraveling mission statement and the highly valued
startup’s new Big Tobacco CEO
I got some great email responses and plenty of a pro-Juul DMs.If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can get this in your
inbox here, and follow my tweets here.The big storyThis section might slowly turn into my grievance of the week, but this week the tale
isn’t a screed against Juul, it’s a prolonged eye roll after the merger of two adtech companies responsible for pumping the internet
full of garbage.Taboola and Outbrain have merged, forming a $2 billion adtech giant
Those startup names likely don’t mean much to you, but they’re both responsible for a lot of the publishing world’s junkiest ad
You’ve tried not to see them.These startups grew their networks by sending traffic from one partner to another and incentivizing the flow
of more traffic through them.By adding a bit of JavaScript, publications were able to bring in traffic and, more importantly, effortless
It’s been an irresistible sell to plenty of publishers, but it’s also been an eyesore for many of them and a race to the bottom in terms
of selling the most salacious headlines
This has brought in revenues to publications that aren’t afraid to sell a bit of hype.Being an adtech “giant” is pretty relative these
Taking on Google and Facebook’s overwhelming ad duopoly is an incredibly noble goal — I would love for a true competitor to emerge —
but I have very little faith that a Frankensteined fusion of these two crap ad companies is going to do much to halt a war path
I hope someone else can find a path.Send me feedbackon Twitter @lucasmtny or emaillucas@techcrunch.comOn to the rest of the week’s
news.Trends of the weekHere are a few big news items from big companies, with green links to all the sweet, sweet added
context:Microsoft’s dual screen unveilMicrosoft dove headfirst into dual-screen folding displays at its hardware event this week
Take a peek at the Neo and Duo
Read more here.Tesla buys a startupTesla has been arranging its efforts around robo taxis and now is making some acquisitions to bolster its
See them all here.GAFA GaffesHow did the top tech companies screw up this week? This clearly needs its own section, in order of
badness:Facebook news can’t be trusted:[Facebook leads in news consumption among social feeds, but most don’t trust it]Sign up for more
newsletters in your inbox (including this one) here.
