Montreal-based District M and San Francisco-based Sharethrough have entered a definitive merger agreement. The merger will see the creation of one of the largest independent omnichannel ad exchanges in the world, anchored in a user-centric, respectful, quality-first approach to digital advertising.

Witnessing a shift in the consumption of digital media across all channels, the companies aim to strengthen their omnichannel and omniformat market offering with native, display and video on desktop, mobile and connected TV. District M and Sharethrough also recognise the need for change in the digital advertising ecosystem: advertisers and agencies are working to redesign their supply chains to prioritise quality, trusted partners through supply path optimisation (SPO) initiatives. Publishers are reprioritising their monetisation and technology partnerships with an eye towards scale, uniqueness, and quality.

With direct, multi-format integrations to every DSP (Demand Side Platform) and a combined reach of over 40,000 directly-connected publisher websites and apps, the combined company is uniquely positioned to meet marketer’s performance and supply path optimisation (SPO) objectives while also bringing publishers quality, unique demand at scale and through the platforms of their choice.

With this merger, the combined company will invest more in work to enhance every impression and creative to drive better performance for advertisers and publishers along with an improved ad experience for web users. A major focus of the expanded team will be bringing enhanced ads concepts to new formats and devices including instream and CTV.

As a combined company, the priority is continued growth and value creation, and the companies are well capitalised and well aligned to succeed and prosper. Together, District M and Sharethrough will become one of the largest modern ad exchanges in terms of direct publisher reach and financial scale. The combined company has over 140 employees across 8 offices in the US and Canada. The unified team will allow the combined company to accelerate their respective product roadmaps and immediately drive more value to customers.

District M president, co-founder, and CEO JF Cote, who is set to become CEO of the combined company, says, “This strategic merger agreement will allow us to have an ever more innovative offering by strengthening our presence not only in North America, but also worldwide. Together, we become one of the largest ad exchanges around the globe.

This is an opportunity for both of our companies to significantly grow revenue and our publisher footprint with an omnichannel strategy. For publishers, the most strategic partners are the ones that can drive the most quality, diverse revenue. For advertisers, the most strategic partners are the ones with the most scale and performance. Our combined company is that partner, built for the modern advertising ecosystem.”

Dan Greenberg, founding CEO of Sharethrough and incoming president of the combined company, says, “Since founding Sharethrough nearly 12 years ago, we have been working to shift the advertising paradigm away from obnoxious ads and towards an ecosystem underpinned by respect and care.

We know that when ads are designed for comprehension, they perform better for everyone in the supply chain. Together with District M, we believe that taking a human-centric approach to advertising and monetisation is the key to a sustainable path forward for the independent and accessible internet. This mission to build a more human-centric advertising platform has gone from an optimistic vision to a reality
in these past years. Today's announcement adds fuel to the fire and reinforces that human-centric advertising is here to stay.”