US-based media tech company GumGum has acquired Sydney-based Playground xyz, a global attention-based advertising platform. The transaction was done using a mix of cash and stock and will be immediately accretive. With the addition of Playground xyz, GumGum will now provide advertisers the ability to measure the attention of their contextually-driven campaigns without the use of personal data.
“In a future without the cookie or personal data, we believe that digital advertising will come down to capturing the consumer’s mindset through a combination of creative, context, and consumer attention. Each is independently important, but together make up The Mindset Matrix, which will be key to understanding and optimizing campaigns of the future,” said Phil Schraeder, CEO, GumGum.
“Our accredited contextual technology combined with Playground xyz’s proven attention measurement and optimization solution will allow advertisers to future proof their attribution strategies by moving past basic viewability metrics to better understand the true effectiveness of their digital campaigns. ”
Playground xyz pioneered the Attention Intelligence Platform, the world’s first integrated tech stack to measure and optimize towards Attention Time – how long, in seconds, an ad is actually looked at. Playground xyz does this through its AI technology that is trained and verified using real eye-tracking data. Founded six years ago in Australia, Playground xyz has expanded operations across APAC, EMEA, and the US. Demand for the platform has continued to accelerate, with Playground xyz seeing greater than 60 per cent year-over-year revenue growth.
Said Rob Hall (main photo), CEO of Playground xyz: “There are two seismic changes taking place in the ad industry. The first is the death of the cookie which will widely impact how we reach and target consumers. Contextual targeting will be the winner here and GumGum has an unmatched pedigree via the only MRC accredited content level solution.
“The second is the emerging ‘attention economy’ which recognizes that brands are increasingly fighting for their precious share of consumer attention. Playground xyz has the world’s most awarded attention measurement and optimisation platform. The pairing of Gumgum’s privacy forward contextual solutions with our attention-driven ad products creates an unbeatable combination.”
Both GumGum and Playground xyz have experienced accelerated rapid growth as the industry shifts to a cookie-free world and contends with the attention economy. With the addition of Playground xyz, GumGum will expand its global footprint with six new offices in APAC. Rob Hall, Playground xyz’s CEO, will lead GumGum attention products as Global President, Attention Intelligence Platform.
