The new division will be headed up by SouthernX’s managing director, Paula Raubenheimer, who will become Head of Programmatic at The SpaceStation. Says Raubenheimer: “This integration is a strong reflection of the growing importance of programmatic in South Africa’s digital media space. For South Africa’s largest publisher to have made this move so that they can be certain that programmatic is 100% integrated into their existing sales teams, is a telling acknowledgement of the value of programmatic.”
Gustav also notes that this move takes their competitive offering and the value they provide to clients to the next level: “We have always strongly believed in the effectiveness of premium ad campaigns. Now we are able to offer even more - a simpler solution that is a single point of contact for both premium and programmatic (RTB and Premium Direct) ad buys, giving clients strong, engaging and strategic campaigns that use the best of both approaches across a network of SA’s largest digital publishers, largely driven by 24.com at Media24.”
The integration means that The SpaceStation’s programmatic offering will be even more agnostic in terms of both technology and buyers. SouthernX essentially becomes The SpaceStation’s platform-agnostic Sell-Side Platform (SSP) able to plug into App Nexus, Google Ad Exchange and others in the near future.
As one of the first media exchange market places in South Africa, SouthernX have always been at the forefront of the technology in SA’s digital media arena. “Coupling our formidable experience with The SpaceStation’s world-class inventory will see programmatic level up and the industry move into a whole new chapter,” adds Paula.
