10 Things In Advertising You Need To Know Today

1. Facebook's deal to acquire LiveRail for between $400 and $500 million closed Thursday, according to TechCrunch. LiveRail will reportedly begin working under Facebook on Monday.

2. Advertising media company GroupM predicts global ad spend will hit $534 billion this year and predicts an additional 5% increase by 2015, up to $560 billion. Media Post reports this would put global ad spend at its highest since the "pre-crisis peak of 2007/2008."

3. Instagram hired James Quarles, previously Facebook's regional director, to be the company's new global head of business and brand development. Quarles will manage Instagram's advertising and sales.

4. Sprinklr acquired TBG Digital, a Facebook and Twitter ad platform, for just under $50 million on Thursday.

5. Ad Exchanger looks at what's ahead for ad network Gravity after being acquired by AOL in January. AOL will use Gravity's technology to recommend paid and unpaid content on the AOL homepage on a more personalized level for users.

6. Dr. Pepper relies on YouTube and native BuzzFeed ads for its latest summer campaign. The soda company hopes to reach 16 to 24 year olds through viral videos and BuzzFeed posts.

7. The FTC has been asked to investigate 30 data profiling companies in the United States. The companies have been accused of violating Europe's "Safe Harbor" policies, which was put in place to protect consumer data from the European Union.

8. Media Post looks at the next steps for the ad tech industry, explaining that the future is in programmatic direct, or guaranteed ad inventory at a fixed price.

9. YuMe stock crashed Thursday after the video ad tech company reported greater losses in the last quarter.

10. Mashable offers up five tips for brands to make engaging websites that will drive sales. Tips include creating engaging video content and posting customer reviews.