SPH and Mediacorp partner up to create digital ad marketplace

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Mediacorp have partnered up to create a new digital advertising marketplace using programmatic solutions.The two media companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding and the joint venture, tentatively named Singapore Media Exchange (SMX), will commit at least two billion display and video impressions annually across a selection of SPH and Mediacorp platforms. The inventory for this private marketplace resides across desktop, mobile web and mobile app.The alliance will be managed by an independent team led by a CEO to be hired. A board will be appointed with the two companies having equal representation and the chairperson role alternating between them every two years.The alliance will be fully launched in 2018. Down the road, other premium publishers may be invited to participate in the marketplace and add to the inventory offered by the two founding partners, said the two in a joint statement.A spokesperson for Mediacorp declined to reveal the monetary amount of the partnership but stated that SPH and Mediacorp are "committed" to placing the right levels of talents, technology and financial investments into ensuring the success of the venture.Roger Moy, head, Consumer Insights and Analytics, Mediacorp said: “A key imperative of the digital cooperative is to pool, unify and harness rich first-party audience data across the breadth of news, business, entertainment and lifestyle properties of both organisations. The collective data insights will enable the programmatic alliance to syndicate valuable audience segments with scale as well as unlock new targeting opportunities in a brand-safe environment.”Julian Tan, executive VP of digital division, SPH said: “This partnership brings together the two leading media organisations in Singapore which are committed to innovate and offer true value to advertisers facing unprecedented challenges in this digital age. Now we have a single, easy-to-use programmatic solution with extensive scale and reach that will allow them to drive their desired impact using the latest ad serving technology.Tan Su-Lin, head of sales strategy and operations at SPH added that viewability is critical for today's advertisers as they seek greater accountability in digital media and the opportunity for their advertisements to be seen.“As premium publishers, SPH's and Mediacorp's digital platforms provide quality content that is produced by professional journalists and supported by full time specialist teams working actively on improving user experience and ad tech to eliminate ad fraud as well as increase ad viewability and quality viewable impressions for our readers," she said.“Trust is paramount for brands,” said  Parminder Singh, chief commercial and digital officer, Mediacorp. “Coming together in this venture enables SPH and Mediacorp to scale the benefits of our trusted media environments. The strength of our offerings also lies in creative, engaging advertising formats and bespoke automated solutions that give brands the ability to build effective, coherent stories and campaigns and more meaningful connections with their customers.”According to ComScore, Mediacorp and SPH are among the top five digital properties with the highest traffic in Singapore, reaching over seven in ten digital consumers locally every month. As such, the local scale, credibility and influence of Mediacorp and SPH offers a high-quality, viewable advertising environment.Using a data management platform to consolidate data resources from both companies, the alliance is said to provide richer targeting capabilities including behavioural, demographic and contextual to pinpoint the right audiences and meet the needs of specific campaigns. It also allays advertisers’ growing concerns about “black box” programmatic processes – brands can feel safe knowing that their creative is appearing next to quality content.