The Rubicon Project recently announced a raft of partnerships to underpin its existing offering to European publishers and ad networks. Jay Stevens, VP & GM, International at the Rubicon Project, took time this week to speak to ExchangeWire about these new strategic partnerships, the repositioning of Rubicon as a supply-side platform and how the company intends to work with the DSPs.

Can you give more detail on the recently announced strategic partnership with Clickfacts?

JS: Our goal is to ensure a safe, high quality ad environment for publishers and their users. Tracking and stopping malware has been a nearly impossible process with many publishers still unable to detect and stop malicious ads before the first consumer complaint comes in, by which time the brand’s reputation has already been damaged. Therefore, we partnered with ClickFacts to integrate their Risk Discovery solution into the REVV for publishers™ platform – resulting in Rubicon Security, which identifies offending ad tags and their source, stopping malvertising attacks before they happen.

How big of a problem is “malware” for publishers? And how important is it to have the right technology in place to protect publishers?

JS: Malware or “malvertising” is a top online security threat in 2010 and the bad economy is one of the many reasons why it continues to thrive. It’s a lucrative business with low costs of entry and very little, if any ramification. It also doesn’t help that automated online advertising environments; including ad exchanges, demand partners and agencies, make easy targets because the screening processes they have in place don’t include strict filters. Also, these criminals are learning to buy direct well-known name brands, making it easier to reach large audiences.

Can you also provide more insight into your partnership with ad classification specialists, Adsafe? How does this current arrangement improve classification of ad inventory on the Rubicon platform?

JS: Our platform provides independent inventory verification to ensure safety and accuracy for ad networks, exchanges, agencies and their advertisers. With the integration of AdSafe’s proprietary content analysis technology, we now provide an advanced level of brand protection. The partnership marks a significant milestone in the improvement of brand safety standards for advertising sales channels (ad networks, sales houses, etc), their advertisers and publishers alike – and ultimately for the online advertising ecosystem.

How successful has REVV been for publishers selling ad inventory through your platform?

JS: Our complete Yield Management Optimization solution provides premium publishers a platform that gives them complete control and visibility to best manage their direct and indirect inventory to match every impression with the highest paying demand source. A specific example of success on the REVV platform is through our Targeted Audience Program (TAP), enabling Web publishers to target their own visitors and other Web users just like them on their own sites and beyond as they travel around the Web. Rates for campaigns running through the Targeted Audience Program today are garnering nearly 4x rates of non-audience targeted campaigns.

As of Q409, more than 10 percent of advertising dollars flowing through the Rubicon Project’s REVV Marketplace were spent exclusively on audience-targeted buys, compared to 5 percent at the start of Q409. The growth is a clear indication that our partners and their advertisers are satisfied, and benefiting from the ability to reach precisely targeted audience segments through the premium publishers who are leveraging our Targeted Audience Program.

It was a remarkable year of growth for Rubicon in 2009. Has the business gained traction in Europe since you started trading here last year? How do you see the market developing in 2010?

JS: 2010 is going to be an exciting year for the Rubicon Project as more publishers around the world recognise the need for solutions which help them make the most from revenue from their traffic and audience. While still nascent, we will see the further development and adoption of demand side platforms in the US which will begin to spill over internationally. We are going to see the emergence of more ad networks on the continent and, as such, a greater need for channel and data management solutions. Lastly, 2010 is going to bring about much more cooperation among publishers, working together to ensure that they are keeping as much revenue as they can and mitigating arbitrage.

Rubicon is currently seen as a yield optimiser? Do you think the company’s platform is moving more towards a premium “publisher” exchange?

JS: In the last year, we’ve expanded internationally to several continents, continued enhancing our technology and support offerings and welcomed hundreds of new customers to our developing global family. It’s our job to connect publishers with all the disparate sources of demand (ad networks, exchanges, rep firms, other pubs, demand side platforms, etc) in the digital marketplace today – but unlike an exchange, we do not connect publishers directly to advertisers. A term that’s been used in the US recently is “supply-side platform” – that may better describe what we’re out to achieve. Regardless of the label, we will continue to provide the technology and tools that best enables our publisher customers to garner the highest rates possible.

Rubicon has recently been very critical of DSPs. What, from a publisher’s perspective, are the key issues with DSPs? Will Rubicon work with DSPs?

JS: Currently DSPs are designed with advertiser benefit in mind; as such, any publisher plugging in direct (or through other intermediary) exposes themselves to major pricing erosion, data loss and channel conflict issues. That said, there are an increasing number of dollars going into these platforms, and the Rubicon Project’s goal is to efficiently, effectively and safely connect premium publisher customers to as much demand as possible.

We are developing technology engineered to give publishers access to DSP dollars, while offering unparalleled pricing control, data protection and channel conflict prevention – the right protections for maximum publisher benefit. This will be the only technology solution on that market that facilitates connection with this large number of partners and also has this level of publisher protections, no one else is close).

There has been a lot of activity in the mobile display market recently – Google, Apple, Admeld and Improve Digital have all entered the space. Will Rubicon look to offer its optimisation service to mobile publishers?

JS: We examine the current mobile display market in our Q4 2009 Online Advertising Market Report (http://www.rubiconproject.com/market-intelligence). One of the trends we think will start to influence the overall online ad marketplace this year is the integration of mobile ad inventory by non-mobile ad networks. Advertisers are starting to include mobile in many of their large digital RFPs. We recognize that the traditional networks that can offer ‘one-stop’ shopping for online and mobile campaigns will become increasingly valuable. As we continue to innovate and build solutions to meet the needs of digital publishers, mobile will inevitably be part of the mix.