AppNexus, an ad tech company specialising in real-time online advertising, has announced its acquisition of Yieldex, a publisher-facing analytics and forecasting platform.
The integration of Yieldex into the AppNexus platform supports AppNexus’ rollout of an integrated, full-stack publisher solution and positions the company to create a comprehensive open marketplace for the direct, programmatic sale of online inventory.
“We’re building a best-in-class, full-stack publisher platform, and the integration of Yieldex’s sophisticated analytics and forecasting tools helps us solve unmet challenges and deliver key insights to our clients,” said Brian O’Kelley, CEO of AppNexus. “This deal also positions us to lead on programmatic direct – one of the next big waves in advertising technology. The marriage of the AppNexus platform and Yieldex creates a comprehensive, open marketplace for programmatic direct.”
Whether through automated guarantees, private marketplaces, or preferred deals, programmatic direct is a growing share of online advertising. eMarketer, a leading market research firm, estimates that the U.S. programmatic advertising market will top $20 billion by 2016, and that of this total, 42 percent will be bought and sold through programmatic direct.
Founded in 2007 by industry veterans from NetGravity and Matchlogic, Yieldex is headquartered in New York and maintains a large staff presence near Boulder, Colorado. Its principal products are Yieldex Analytics, a market-leading suite of forecasting and analytics tools that enable publishers to increase revenue and yield; and YieldexDirect, an integrated catalog management and direct-booking capability for direct guaranteed buys.
Yieldex Analytics powers direct sales efforts for over 50 major publishers, including The New York Times, Expedia, Pandora, CBS Interactive, Univision and The Weather Channel. Within a year of launching YieldexDirect, the company signed twenty major publisher clients, including Hearst Newspapers and PGA TOUR Digital, with PGA TOUR Digital using YieldexDirect exclusively for managing its direct, automated guaranteed deals.
“If you believe in the importance of an open ad tech ecosystem, and if you’re committed to helping publishers monetise their inventory and grow their business, AppNexus is the team to be on,” said Andy Nibley, CEO of Yieldex. “AppNexus built the open, end-to-end platform that creates a vibrant and liquid marketplace for online inventory. The company already powers a substantial portion of the world’s internet advertising. Integrating our offerings into its publisher product will create the world’s leading, independent full-stack publisher platform and a new market leader in programmatic direct.”
LUMA Partners advised Yieldex on the transaction.
