Akihiko Tokuhisa is both the CEO & President of Platform One Inc. and CTO of D.A.Consortium Inc. Here he discusses how Platform One combines Market One (DSP) and Yield One (SSP) into one platform and, with agencies and publishers fast embracing programmatic buying, how RTB is gaining traction in the Japanese market. He also hints at a move into China is on the cards.

Can you give an overview of Platform One’s proposition and offering in Japan and the wider APAC region?

Platform One Inc.(Platform One) launched in February 2011, and is a 100% held subsidiary of D.A.Consortium Inc.(DAC). At this stage Platform One is focused purely on the Japanese market.

Platform One was established to focus on the YIELD ONE™ (SSP) and Market One® (DSP) businesses, that have now been transferred from DAC to Platform One since April 2011.

Market One® has been operational since 2009, and has over 100 agencies and 400 advertisers using Market One® as a media buying platform.

YIELD ONE™ launched earlier this year, and so far has more than 20 significant publishers on board. Already, we believe YIELD ONE™ has the largest traffic volume of any SSP in Japan.

How evolved is the ad exchange ecosystem in Japan and what challenges do Platform One face in the Japanese market?

YIELD ONE™, being Platform One’s SSP product, is focused on ad network optimization, complemented with RTB capabilities.  Through this combination of capabilities, we see YIELD ONE™ delivering more significant efficiencies and bigger increases in revenue for publisher clients comparing to existing Ad Exchanges which only provide inventories.

For challenges, the maturity of the data market in Japan would be one of the more significant challenges. Assuming that data trading will deliver the same empowerment in buying decisions that is occurring in the US and EU will apply to Japan, it would be great to see a data market in Japan as well. However, at the moment, data trading has not yet started.

Is there an adequate supply of brand safe impressions to trade in Japan and across the APAC region? What SSPs and exchanges are the big inventory sources for inventory?

In many aspects of its business, DAC selectively works with only publishers with quality content.

Part of this is a requirement that the URLs of all available supply inventory be published, available with DAC’s media planning system AD-Visor®.

As it is this same quality managed inventory that is being placed into the YIELD ONE™ and Market One® trading environments, we see there are less issues concerning Brand Safety.

Regarding which SSPs/exchanges are the big inventory sources in Japan, we believe that YIELD ONE™ is already the largest source for supply inventory.

Is there any RTB happening in the market? Has there  beenany inventory made available via RTB?

RTB services started operating in Japan in June, including the YIELD ONE™ RTB offering.

Most of the supply in YIELD ONE™ is available through RTB, and the volume is increasing rapidly. We currently have nearly 50 RTB campaigns through RTB, and have accomplished JPY 8-digit RTB revenue (roughly 6-digit in USD) in July.

Is there resistance to the automated model? What is the perspective of Japanese and regional publishers?

Given that YIELD ONE™ with its automated yield management has only launched recently, there are many publishers that are enthusiastically participating, and there are some that staying on the sidelines such as Yahoo! JAPAN whilst they get a better understanding of what yield automation means for their business.

However, as YIELD ONE™ clearly demonstrates the benefits it delivers, we expect to see wide adoption by publishers of YIELD ONE™.

Are you working with agencies or client direct?

DAC’s focus is on Media Agencies, and any dealings with advertisers is only done indirectly via our agency clients.

Are Japanese and regional agencies becoming more active in the area of programmatic buying? How will Platform One help these buyers access dynamic inventory?

With varying degrees of sophistication, many Japanese and regional agencies are embracing programmatic buying.  They realize programmatic buying allows them to increase their revenues, whilst delivering operational efficiencies and superior campaign execution.

Platform One assists agencies in this respect, through our Market One® media buying solution.  Market One® is a powerful and easy to use tool with a user-friendly interface for buying dynamic inventory.

Our agency clients leverage Market One® to build and execute their campaigns, enjoying streamlined processes and benefiting from campaign delivery at optimal media cost with outstanding performance.

For agency clients that want to go beyond the capabilities of Market One®, we have established the joint venture IponWeb Japan Inc. (IPJ), to build agency specific buying tools. 

What’s next for Platform One? Are there plans to take Platform One to the wider APAC region?

In conjunction with IPJ, we anticipate exploring entry into the Chinese market sometime next year, and maybe other markets in Asia as well.

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