TubeMogul Formalizes IPG Mediabrands Partnership Across UK, Asia-Pacific

Video demand side platform TubeMogul and IPG Mediabrands have expanded their work together in the UK, Australia and Japan as the two seek to build up their programmatic video operations in those countries. Their agreement also aims to deliver more seamless campaign tools to globally-minded US marketers.

TubeMogul’s non-exclusive partnership with Mediabrands, which has largely been ad hoc up to this point, reflects an acceleration of real-time bidding and direct sales automation outside the US. In particular, TubeMogul CEO Brett Wilson said his company has witnessed greater programmatic activity for reserved video ad sales than there is for RTB. But with most major publishers preferring to work closely with agencies as their liaison in those countries, it made sense for the two companies to develop their services in lockstep.

That’s especially important as IPG Mediabrands, which manages $36 billion in worldwide ad spend through the holding company’s media buying shops and its Mediabrands Audience Platform (MAP) trading desk operations, expects to automate 50% of its buys before 2016, said Nicole Craine, MAP’s president.

“We’ve been working very closely with TubeMogul in the US, Canada and Australia, for over a year, and the expansion of our programmatic video focus into the UK and Asia-Pacific region is designed to speed up the evolution we see taking place in those areas individually, and here in the US as well,” Craine said.

In place of RTB video, which is where TubeMogul has generally seen increased usage in its agency business, the rise of private marketplaces in Australia and Japan has led it to seek a more formal partnership with Mediabrands. Similar discussions with other agencies starting to take shape as well. For example, TubeMogul is already working with almost all the major trading desks and media agencies in the UK and Australia, including Omnicom’s Accuen and WPP’s GroupM/Xaxis, as well as local ones like IKON in Australia. This is it’s “second in-market” partnership in Japan, but it’s first with one of the global holding companies.

Going into this next phase of their partnership, TubeMogul’s technology and inventory tools have already been connected into IPG Mediabrands’ global programmatic platforms, which include the trading desk Cadreon as well as its interactive shops Ansible, Reprise Media, Spring Creek.

The next part is just beginning and it involves moving TubeMogul’s targeting system into IPG Mediabrands’ custom data stack to give the agency a greater ability to devise audience segments within the video DSP’s private marketplace partners.

“The big difference in the UK, Australia and Japan is that there’s not much RTB inventory available for video these days,” Wilson said. “So we’ve been building out our work on the private marketplaces, where we’re automating direct sales to publishers as well. The trend toward private marketplaces for video is just picking up in the US. So I think what we’re doing in other parts of the world are going to inform how things develop here.”

Overall, while it helps to have a stronger programmatic network established for global marketers, since individual countries and regions remain at different stages of evolving, it makes sense to have a clear partner to help tailor strategies that make sense for specific places, Craine added.

“The ultimate point is that video and programmatic generally are growing wildly, but that growth needs focus, especially when it comes to managing issues related to planning, targeting, and above all, workflow,” Craine said. “That’s what we’ll be nailing down the next few months.”