Orange-France Telecom Group and OpenX announced a partnership yesterday to launch the Orange Ad Market. With so much quality inventory now available to European ad traders, the move is likely have a significant effect on the exchange eco-system here. Following on from yesterday’s announcement Luc Thang, Vice President of the Orange Advertising Network, spoke to ExchangeWire about the new partnership between OpenX and Orange, how European media buyers will benefit from being able to access quality inventory through its RTB-enabled platform, and why publishers will see better returns by trading ad inventory through the Orange Ad Market.

What was the motivation behind the new partnership with OpenX?

LT: The market is moving fast and we need a broader set of products so this partnership is key. It has huge strategic importance in the short term and in the media term it brings productivity and efficiency that are important to growth in this market.

Also, online advertising is a natural extension of a telecom operator’s business. After connecting our customers first via telephone and then the Internet, Orange now wants to facilitate and improve the connections between companies, their products, and the community of its customers.

Do you think this is a more efficient way to trade display advertising? How will the new Orange Ad Market be better for publishers and media buyers?

LT: Today, display ad buyers have to work across a huge and diverse pool of ad inventory and individually negotiate pricing across many sellers, without having visibility of other offers. Many publishers struggle to connect with relevant advertisers, resulting in badly placed ads and falling CPMs. Orange Ad Market simplifies and opens this entire process for everyone. It creates more value for publishers and better ROI for advertisers. It is a significant new addition to what Orange offers to publishers and advertisers.

This complements how Orange Ad Network already works with advertisers and publishers. We are using technology to automate a very time consuming process therefore bringing greater efficient and value to everyone. But an automated approach can never replace the knowledge and relationships that a network of professionals have, especially when you look at the branded advertising.

Will this be a self-service model? Or will Orange Ad Market have active sales team selling into European agencies and advertisers?

LT: Orange has a physical presence and deep long standing relationships in Europe with sales, marketing and support teams. We will be leveraging this knowledge and expertise to drive usage and activity in the Orange Ad Market.

As most large agencies and groups are moving toward building or licensing buy-side tools our role will be to introduce confidence with buyers - from the highest levels right through to the planning teams - and to help accelerate knowledge and understanding on how to create value from Orange Ad Market.

Why has Orange chosen OpenX over the Google Ad Exchange and Right Media?

LT: We can’t comment on the competencies of other ad exchange networks, however, we chose OpenX because it shares the same philosophy as Orange regarding the importance of creating a single, easy to use platform to unite publishers with ad buyers. It has an industry leading technology platform which is independent and open and has a pioneering leadership team with a proven track record of building and operating the largest online ad markets and managing huge partnerships.

Can you give any figures on the volumes that will be initially available through the Orange Ad Market?
Although we are not disclosing any specific figures, we do anticipate significant growth as more quality buyers begin to use Orange Ad Market and a broad range of inventory right through the value chain is made available.

Sales cannibalisation is a chief concern of many publishers when dealing with automated platforms? How do you intend to prevent it?

LT: Publishers have control over the advertisers to whom they sell their inventory through Orange Ad Market. It's important for publishers to see automated platforms as an opportunity to increase yields by gaining access to a larger pool of demand partners rather than a threat to existing business. Publishers need to start small and grow their use of platforms as knowledge of how to create value and confidence grows.

Do you think Orange will be the first of many to automate its ad trading function in the European market?

LT: Although we do not comment on other companies but we feel as an industry trend, this is certainly how the market will move.

Can you give an idea of what inventory will be available through the Orange Ad Market? Will it include inventory from Unanimis and other ad networks? Will it be non-premium only – or will there be premium also?

LT: The plans for what demand will be available for launch are still being developed, but it will be a blend of inventory from some of the publishers in the Unanimis network, publishers who are not part of the Unanimis network and OpenX Ad Server publishers who participate in the market. Our objective is to grow Orange Ad Market from launch to have inventory available that is right through the value chain.

Will that granular control be available to publishers through the Orange Ad Market?

LT: We will operate a unique “price protection” design. Sellers submit the minimum price they are willing to sell inventory for. Only ads that exceed this price run. Suppliers are in complete control.