StickyADS.tv, the leading programmatic private exchange software provider, has recently launched StickyDirect, a platform to allow publishers to promote their offering and media packages to buyers.
The company developed this tool in response to the growing importance of programmatic direct, which will represent 42% of programmatic advertising spend in the US next year.
I caught up with Nicolas Mignot, StickyADS.tv’ Country Manager of France and Emerging Markets, to find out more about the product and discuss programmatic.
“Working with big TV broadcasters and big media groups we realized that the way they see programmatic is very close to what they do in the traditional media side of their business and that’s why we’ve decided to create StickyDirect, which addresses programmatic direct based on the way TV broadcasters are working on linear TV. It’s basically an additional business in programmatic as a whole, where the idea is to allow buyers to know what they will be able to buy in the next weeks, months and pre-book that inventory and finally work like they use to do in linear TV: pre-packaging their shows grid.
StickyDirect can be likened to a shopping mall where publishers showcase their promotions, and buyers can easily view what is available. It empowers publishers by giving them ownership of their video offerings, helping them to transform their traditional media kit into a programmatic one and to show its value to potential buyers in a more effective way.”
In every discussion with a company dealing with programmatic, we are interested to benchmark France with the strong markets in this sector, namely US and the UK,to understand what should be the next steps for the Hexagon. Discussing with Nicolas Mignot, his take on this issue was different than most people we interviewed.
“All markets are different. UK and US are big and dynamic markets. Programmatic started there and this gives the feeling that these markets are more advanced, but it’s just a question of proportion. I wouldn’t say continental Europe markets are late, but it’s just that they approach programmatic differently. They are slightly more protective while UK and US are fast movers. European publishers are very keen to keep the control over their assets. They want to set up their own rules first and then start doing business, unlike English or American publishers who are in a “test and learn” mode that helps them address a larger scale quickly. Once European publishers have made up their mind on programmatic and the way to manage it, they adopt it and grow it very fast.
We have seen that programmatic direct is already a trading habit in the US, but there is not such a thing as a publishers’ software to help them manage it. StickyDirect will bridge the former gap, offering something new to all publishers whatever the market they operate in. Programmatic direct deserves a tool allowing more automatization on the sell side and easier access on the buy side. Advertisers know how to use data more and more, and how to get the right exposure for their brand. For agencies and trading desks, the flexibility offered by the programmatic direct is key to switching more budget to programmatic as a whole in the future.”