On this week’s episode of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire’s Rachel Smith and Lindsay Rowntree are joined by Tom Simpson, VP, brand and exchange, APAC, AdColony, to discuss the latest news in ad tech and martech.
On this week’s episode:
– Yahoo Japan and Line have merged in a bid to tackle competitors, coming from the US and China. Line – consider a super utility app since the platforms enables many functions in addition to messaging – is popular in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, amongst other SEA countries. The merger is effectively being powered by Softbank, who own Yahoo Japan, and Naver Corporation who own Line. The companies say this will enable them to concentrate on building out other products and functions including AI powered activities, search, payment functions and financial services. How will this position Line against other super utility apps in the region? Is feels as though Softbank has never ending depth to their pockets, but will this be one investment…