LONDON, May 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AppNexus, LiveRamp™ – an Acxiom^® company – and MediaMath today announced the launch of an open, technology industry consortium to make people-based marketing widely available within programmatic channels. The three companies have agreed to create a standard identity framework that enables buyers and sellers of programmatic digital advertising to create more relevant campaigns and improve consumer experience. Additional companies initially joining the consortium are Index Exchange, LiveIntent, OpenX, and Rocket Fuel.

"Today, 48 percent of all digital advertising dollars accrue to just two companies – Facebook and Google," said Brian O'Kelley, CEO of AppNexus. "That dynamic has placed considerable strain on the open internet  companies that generate great journalism, film, music, social networking, and information. This consortium enables precision advertising comparable to that of Google and Facebook, and does so in a privacy-conscious manner. That means better outcomes for marketers, greater monetization for publishers, and more engaging content for consumers."

The current bidding process in programmatic channels relies on proprietary identifiers such as cookies, and thus often cannot translate consumer identity across buyers and sellers, or across devices. Adding identity resolution to programmatic advertising helps marketers to deliver more-relevant content and enhances the consumer experience.

"Marketers love the fact that LiveRamp allows them to unify the people-based marketing they do with the most popular publishers with marketing in other channels," said Travis May, President and General Manager of LiveRamp. "There's huge demand for leveraging a deterministic, omnichannel identifier in the bidstream, as marketers want to improve their interactions with consumers by linking data from customer files and offline channels – such as in-store purchases – to media exposure in programmatic channels. The creation of this consortium will accelerate the delivery of this value to marketers and their partners in the digital media ecosystem."

"Our clients are excited by the prospect of improved reach and precision in their marketing campaigns," said Michael Lamb, President of MediaMath. "And we are thrilled by the opportunity to establish the strong and consistent data protection policies that consumers deserve. Upgrading this foundational piece of the infrastructure puts us on solid footing, as programmatic grows to encompass all of digital."

Consortium members will enjoy access to an identity framework built from pairing an encrypted version of an omnichannel, people-based identifier and a common, open cookie that resides on a shared, open domain. Each consortium member will adhere to a strict agreement requiring best practices with respect to privacy and security, including compliance with digital advertising industry self-regulatory code and applicable laws.

Until now, the lack of a common, omnichannel, people-based identifier has created significant challenges for marketers, including the inability to coordinate campaigns across platforms, a lack of interoperability with the mobile web, and siloing across channels. The consortium solves these challenges by offering the following benefits to advertisers:

• Enablement of people-based marketing to the buyers and sellers of programmatic advertising across devices, formats, and platforms. Advertisers can increase ROI and improve customer experiences by both targeting at the level of individuals and managing impression frequency and cadence.
• Inclusion of mobile, addressable TV, Internet of Things (IoT), Out of Home (OOH), email, and emerging channels for targeted programmatic advertising.
• Increased monetization for publishers through increased addressability of their audiences, including the ability to offer people-based marketing in "cookieless environments."

"As the programmatic industry evolves to include the buying and selling of media across a variety of emerging channels, such as addressable TV and Internet of Things, there is a definite market need for a unique identifier that is neutral, and that can deliver the value that advertisers and agencies want without relying solely on Facebook and Google,” said Tim Cadogan, CEO of OpenX. “The lack of a unique identifier to date has been one of the biggest factors in fueling concerns around transparency, fairness and control in the digital advertising ecosystem, as well as one that has limited marketers' ability to achieve optimal results with programmatic advertising. This move to create a standard framework, while maintaining neutrality between players, is a big step in the right direction.”

David Gosen, General Manager, Platform Solutions and SVP, International at Rocket Fuel, said, "This collaboration of businesses operating in the digital advertising space will contribute to more transparency and efficiency, which is great news for the internet and our industry. Vitally, it also creates greater relevance for the end consumer. At Rocket Fuel, we believe the future is about people, not devices, so partnering with others in the digital ecosystem to deliver this more widely is a positive move for all involved."

"This is a natural extension of our already-deep partnership with LiveRamp and its IdentityLink service," said LiveIntent Founder and CEO Matt Keiser.  "For marketers that leverage LiveIntent's platform for people-based marketing, the consortium expands the reach of identity-informed campaigns. For publishing brands, the consortium provides access to new identity-informed demand, increasing the value of their inventory. Marketers want access to their target audiences where they are spending time, irrespective of browser or device. Inventory sellers need to be able to provide identity resolution to buyers for targeting, measurement, and attribution. This consortium delivers what people-based marketing needs: success at the intersection of marketing and advertising."

"Creating an open, people-based identifier across industry leaders is a major opportunity - this changes the programmatic landscape for the better, as it exposes unified methods of people-based buying to the open web," said Andrew Casale, President and CEO at Index Exchange. "We're extremely excited to be a part of this effort and believe it's another positive step towards greater transparency for the industry."

About AppNexus
AppNexus is an internet technology company that enables and optimizes the real-time sale and purchase of digital advertising. Our powerful, real-time decisioning platform supports core products that enable publishers to maximize yield; and marketers and agencies to harness data and machine learning to deliver intelligent and customized campaigns. For more information, follow us at @AppNexus or visit us at appnexus.com. 
Press contact: Josh Zeitz, jzeitz@appnexus.com

About LiveRamp
LiveRamp offers brands and the companies they work with identity resolution that is integrated throughout the digital ecosystem, and provides the foundation for omnichannel marketing. IdentityLink transforms the technology platforms used by our clients into people-based marketing channels that improve the relevancy of marketing, and ultimately allow consumers to better connect with the brands and products they love. LiveRamp is an Acxiom company (Nasdaq: ACXM), delivering privacy-safe solutions to market and honoring the best practices of leading associations including the Digital Advertising Alliance's (DAA) ICON and App Choices programs. For more information, visit www.LiveRamp.com.
Press contact: Alyssa Niemiec and Katie LeChase, liveramp@havasformula.com, 619-234-0345

About MediaMath
MediaMath's technology and services help brands and their agencies drive business outcomes through programmatic marketing. We believe that good advertising is customer-centric, delivering relevant and meaningful marketing experiences across channels, formats and devices. Powered by advanced machine learning algorithms that buy, optimize and report in real time, our platform gives sophisticated marketers access to first-, second- and third-party data and trillions of digital impressions across every media channel. Clients are supported by solutions and services experts that make it simple to activate our technology. Since launching the first Demand Side Platform (DSP) in 2007, MediaMath has grown to a global company of nearly 700 employees in 15 locations in every region of the world. MediaMath's clients include all major holding companies and operating agencies as well as leading brands across top verticals.
www.mediamath.com 
Press contact: Jesse Comart, jcomart@mediamath.com

SOURCE AppNexus

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