Johan Klaesson is the CEO of Admeta, a supply-side platform speciliast based in Stockholm, Sweden. The technology company helps publishers monetise non-premium inventory, and currently operates in ten European markets. ExchangeWire caught up with Johan this week to see how Admeta was faring in the competitve SSP space, and to get the view of the current European display market from the sell-side.
It’s been a while since Admeta and ExchangeWire last spoke. How has the business developed over the last couple of months?
JK: We have had really strong development over the last couple of months. Today we are established in 10 European markets and we see a very positive development for 2010 ahead of us. We are now working with several of the top premium publishers in Germany, Spain UK and in the Nordics. We also launched text-ads optimization features in our platform, which further support publishers who want to own and control their online business to a 100%.
You are now operating in a number of European countries. Are there significant differences between the display markets in Europe? Does this make it more difficult for European ad tech companies to scale their business?
JK: There are significant differences yes but the fundamental problems that publishers are facing across Europe are still the same. What strikes me when talking to publishers across Europe is that there is a common view on where they want to direct their business but due to various reasons some are progressing quickly and others are travelling at a more modest speed. Moreover, this fragmentation of the market is something that we actually benefit from as many of our competitors initially developed their offerings to fit a more homogeneous market.
Does Admeta now consider itself a SSP (Supply Side Platform)? If not, how would you describe the current offering?
JK: Yes, we are a SSP but we rarely approach our customers that way. In fact, I think publishers are less concerned about what three letter abbreviations suppliers like ourselves use and more focused on the actual value we can add to their business.
However, to follow the industry standard, I would rather like to call us a TSSP (True Supply Side Platform). We are perhaps the only platform provider with the publisher in mind alone. Ad exchanges and yield optimizers might deliver some great value to some publishers but they can never say they are completely on the publisher’s side, as they constantly need to keep their buy side happy.
How would you differentiate Admeta from other publisher platforms available on the European market?
JK: To follow up on the previous question, we do not bring any advertisers or ad networks to the table. What we offer is a platform for publishers to manage and optimize their sales of remnant ad inventory internally. We do this by enabling the publisher to handle multiple sales channels (ad networks, agencies, direct advertisers, DSP’s) in one system. Also, because we designed our technology to fit the European market we soon realized that one of the key success factors is having a flexible product that can be catered to customers with different needs. Thereby many of our customers choose to work with us not only to make more money tomorrow, they also choose us as a partner for their long-term strategy. Another important difference is the matter of providing the publisher true control of their inventory, by keeping the platform closed.
What’s your view on real-time bidding? Have you seen any demand from European buyers or publishers?
JK: Real time bidding is a very exciting feature that theoretically has an opportunity to bring a great deal of efficiency into this industry, but in real practice there are still a few questions that needs to be sorted out before it will take off. Both publishers and advertisers are curious about RTB but neither has shown any significant willingness to use it at any scale yet. There buzz is higher in the Northern part of Europe, mainly UK, than in the southern part of Europe. In some markets no one has a clue about what it is.
We do have a RTB platform ready that we have tested on a small scale with our largest premium publishers in several markets. None of the clients we ran tests with have chosen to launch it since they do not think the timing is right yet.
There’s a lot of discussion right now around the value of publisher data. Do you think pubs can generate a sustainable revenue stream from selling data?
JK: It will definitely be an alternative revenue stream for some publishers in the future but I strongly advise each publisher to think twice and consider their position in the market before choosing such a strategy. First you need to get your core strategy in place. They you can start looking for “extra” revenue. For small and medium publishers with weaker brands this might actually generate some nice revenue without any significant downsides. But, for premium publishers with top positions in the market there is a risk that it will erode their competitive advantage and have a negative impact on their traditional revenue streams. However, today many Publishers are just starting to understand the value of data. The first thought should be how to capture and gain control of it – not how and if to sell it.
Does the Admeta platform allow publishers to sell data independently of ad inventory? If not are there plans to do so?
JK: As stated in the previous answer, we don’t really think that this is the right way to go for the top players that we work with. In fact, it’s kind of a step back in the value chain. We believe publishers should move forward and get closer to the advertiser and ultimately the end user. The closer you are the more and better data you will have. This is also one of the reasons publishers choose us. They see the value of data but they want to own and control it - not give it away to third parties. With our system they can capitalize on their own data at the same time as they can use third party data to further strengthen their offer and results.
What significant changes have you seen in the European display market over the last twelve months? And what are likely to see happen this year?
JK: At the start of 2009 there was almost a feeling of panic when I talked to publishers across Europe. They were all very concerned about the impact of the economic recession and were fumbling around trying to make sense of all the alternatives they were offered to improve their ad revenues. The discussions were more often about where revenues would come from next week rather than where they would come from in three years time. That has now changed and Publishers are yet again very willing to decide on long-term strategies. In the first half of 2009 we were also delivering a lot of what we call “easy fix” solutions where customers just wanted a tool to optimize their current set of ad networks. We now see how these customers are starting to develop their business by adding more direct advertisers to their customer base. One of the main reasons for this is the significant growth of the performance sales market.