Sanoma Media, a leading pan-European publisher, announced it is rolling out an automated trading platform. Here Yield & Advertising Manager, Martijn Eindhoven, discusses the proposition in more detail, how it will help its third party publisher partners, and why it has added a service layer for those buyers without the resource or know-how to execute automated buys.

What is ADAPT? And how is it going to help agencies and advertisers looking to buy via the automated channel?

ADAPT is many things actually; I guess that is why we chose that name. First and foremost it is Sanoma Media’s Automated Trading Platform. The platform itself, built on Improve Digital technology, provides access to our biddable inventory.

From a demand perspective we offer two flavors. For those demand partners that are directly ‘pluggable’ we connect them directly to the platform. For all advertisers or agencies that do not have the technology or resources in-house to run programmatic buys themselves we offer a variety of standardized ADAPT products.

ADAPT is a network of quality proprietary titles with the addition of quality 3rd party publishers. We have partnered with several key publishers in the market , including MTV networks, to create a valuable ‘brand safe’ network. The network now consists of 100+ websites across every vertical and many of the imaginable niches. Next stop is to expand the ADAPT offering into the realm of mobile as well.

To our publishers ADAPT offers the same selective criteria in quality of advertisers and agencies. This way we try to create an environment where both demand and supply can strengthen each other. In essence we want quality content combined with quality advertisers.

There appears to be a number of solutions available through ADAPT. Can you give a brief overview of the options?

With the ADAPT solutions offerings we tried to create a product that fits the needs of most agencies and advertisers. We offer solutions for campaigns based on volume, performance or targeted at a specific audience.

The volume and performance solutions offer both display and text inventory.

The audience solution can be an audience defined by Sanoma Media, a retargeted advertiser audience and a combination of those.

The current product suite is just the beginning, our offering of solutions will evolve over time.

It looks like the new ADAPT service will have a service layer for those agencies and advertisers not familiar with programmatic buying. Can you give some insight on how you are doing this?

ADAPT is the successor of our performance exchange IMX which we started in 2007. So we have quite some experience servicing agencies and advertisers with their performance campaigns.

ADAPT has a dedicated team consisting of direct sales, ad operations, yield optimizers and data analysts.

This team can assist and advise our clients upfront and during automated campaigns but can also help with the planning and setup of multi-layered campaigns. Within Sanoma Media we call this the full-funnel approach, being able to assist our clients in all of their objectives and creating an offering tailored to those needs.

You say that you will be able to access other third party publishers through ADAPT? Will this just be Dutch domain traffic? Or will there be pan-European inventory in there too?

Well yes and no, ‘access’ would mean that they have their own platform which in this case is not true. Our third party partners are completely integrated within the ADAPT platform. So we actually manage their inventory on their behalf.

Currently it is all traffic on the Dutch domains of our partners. We might add pan-European inventory in the future as long as it adds value for our demand partners and the network.

How will ADAPT help your publisher partners?

The value of ADAPT lies in a combination of many factors actually. In a nutshell ADAPT delivers the platform, the expertise through the ADAPT team and a steady flow of demand already in place. That knowledge and expertise of automated trading combined with the extensive sales force and long-term relationship with advertisers and agencies is a key factor for them.

Will ADAPT be an open marketplace? Or will it look more a private exchange proposition?

Well I think it is somewhere in between. We are very selective in our partners so in that respect you could say it is a private exchange. If you meet the requirements though you are allowed to enter.

On the other hand to create optimal liquidity you don’t really want any exceptions to the standard rule set. In other words we do try to create a level playing field. We do not believe in special treatment for just a few partners. Every partner has something specific to bring to the table that we would ignore otherwise.

You mention mobile and audience data trading as some areas where the ADAPT solution will move into. Can you give some idea what Sanoma Media are doing in this areas with the new ADAPT solution?

ADAPT will evolve into a platform that taps into all possible sources of demand and supply. The most logical next step for us is mobile, we own 70+ applications and mobile websites.

From an audience data perspective Sanoma Media has been quite passive the past year; especially when it concerns automated trading. We are working extremely hard on the launch of a completely new data platform alongside the trading platform. The new data platform will give our partners and us much more flexibility and insight. For ADAPT this new layer of audience data that we can bring to the table will help differentiate the different pockets of inventory within the network. We can do a lot of funky stuff with that, but that’s a story in itself…

Is the launch of ADAPT an indication of significant portion of media spend shifting to programmatic buying? As a European publisher, what key trends are you seeing across the markets?

According to the Dutch IAB ad spend study 36% of all display media spend is done within the automated environment. The launch of ADAPT means we take that trend very seriously and want to be a key partner for all those involved.

As for key trends I think the majority of the market is now aware of automated trading. This helps spur growth and maturity of the market.

The need for information and sharing of knowledge is still very big. The IAB Taskforce Automated Trading can sell out a full day summit on the subject.