In its Q4 conference call with investors, digital video ad solutions provider YuMe’s CEO Jayant Kadambi provided some insight into the company’s planned entry into programmatic and international markets this year.
Kadambi said YuMe’s programmatic offerings will be built on existing platforms, and complement rather than replace direct sales. Agencies and trading desks will be the company’s target customers, he said.
YuMe’s Q4 revenues were $54 million for 2013, and the company announced projected yearly revenues for 2014 of $190 to $200 million. CFO Tim Laehy said he expects the programmatic launch “will contribute material amounts to revenue in 2014.”
Earlier this month the company hired Matt Arkin to head programmatic sales. Arkin previously served as chief revenue officer for Federated Media Publishing.
Kadambi said YuMe’s existing data analysis solutions will complement the company’s entry into programmatic. “We think people who buy through programmatic channels also require the data analysis that we can provide to enhance the frequency of the customers they reach,” Kadambi said. “It’s about analysing [data] and providing the right information for the customer. We believe for programmatic . . . data analysis is key.”
Still, YuMe has no plans to abandon its traditional approach. “We believe there is a place for direct sales,” Kadambi said. “We are not seeing RTB infringe on existing business . . . we view this as a long term game” with programmatic solutions being one of many areas of demand in digital video advertising markets.
YuMe will continue to source advertising inventory from exchanges and rely on its existing business development efforts to reach customers; a strategy Kadambi said allows it to leverage its SDK.
In addition to hiring engineers and other staff to shore up its programmatic offerings, YuMe also announced it was expanding internationally. The company had last year opened offices in Germany and Sweden, joining existing offices in the United States, United Kingdom, and Spain. The company recently hired a country manager for China and is eying expansion in Latin America for 2014.
Kadambi said the company plans to announce a set of products and its go-to-market strategy for its programmatic offerings “in a few weeks.”
