CtrlShift and iPinYou collaborate to offer global brands access to Chinese audiences

Audience solutions firm CtrlShift is collaborating with iPinYou, China’s largest automated media buying technology platform, to provide international brands and agencies access to Chinese audiences.This will be done via an integration of iPinYou’s automated media buying technology platform with The Hub, CtrlShift’s flagship media management and buying application. With this partnership, iPinYou clients will be able to use The Hub to target global audiences outside of China, CtrlShift's spokesperson told A+M exclusively.The Hub is the first media management and buying app outside of China to be integrated with iPinYou, allowing international brands and agencies to identify, reach and engage the 731 million internet users in China.It is a cloud-based software-as-a-service app for automated media buying at scale, allowing users to simultaneously manage media investments across geographies, channels, platforms, as well as technology and inventory partners – DSPs, ad servers, data providers, exchanges and private marketplaces. Serm Teck Choon, head of product and Malaysia country head of CtrlShift, and Adrian Teh, general manager, APAC of iPinYou were instrumental in forming this partnership.Reza Behnam, co-founder and executive chairman at CtrlShift, said its latest partnership is expected to offer brands and agencies worldwide to broaden its reach by accessing China’s audiences, both inside China as well as the 100 million who travel abroad.With this integration, users of The Hub can plan, manage and optimise China campaigns directly from The Hub, starting from early 2018. Marketers using The Hub will be able to engage a growing set of audiences as it assembles a large collection of media inventory, audience segments, and toolsets under a cloud-based software app.China’s digital ad spending is poised to grow by 27% this year to US$50 billion and account for almost 60% of paid media spend, according to an eMarketer report. Mobile ad spending, in particular, is rising at a staggering pace, up 90% in the first quarter of this year.Sara Ye, president of international markets at iPinYou, said, China’s rapid consumer growth makes it one of the most enticing markets in the world for global brands."Our primary goal is to ensure international companies that are launching and expanding business in China, or targeting Chinese consumers globally, receive the greatest support from us," Ye said. Ye added that the partnership between CtrlShift and iPinyou aims to be a game changer, in bringing greater accessibility for advertisers to enter China."This collaboration and technology integration will build the world’s one-stop Hub for media allocation and optimisation, offering a streamlined channel to access audiences globally," Behnam added.