A Q&A with StrikeAd's Gavin Stirrat -- The Jay Sears Mobile Leader Series

Today we continue a series of QampampAs with mobile advertising leaders leading up to Rubicon Projectamp8217s conference on Wednesday February 26 2014 from 9am to 1pm at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain The packed agenda includes two panels amp8220Ad Agencies Mobile and the Automation Opportunityamp8221 featuring leading mobile first agencies and amp8220Mobile First DSPs Why And Why Nowamp8221If you plan to be at Mobile World Congress and would like to attend the Wednesday conference please sendan indication of your interest here or contact searsrubiconprojectcomToday we continue our mobile leader series with Gavin Stirrat COO of StrikeAd a mobile demand side platformYour Name Gavin StirratYour Company StrikeAdYour Title Chief Operating OfficerWhat flavor ice cream best describes your management styleVanilla amp8211 classic style and not overly complicated SEARS In mobile today how much of each 100 spent on mobile media by one of your advertisers is spent on automated or programmatic channels STIRRAT We donamp8217t have insight into exactly how much of the total spend we or programmatic are seeing but I believe the range is likely to be somewhere between 0 and 35 with most advertisers averaging between 5 and 10 although there are aggressive goals across a number of agencies to increase this in 2014SEARS For mobile what was this number in 2011STIRRAT The range in 2011 was likely to have been between 0 and 10SEARS For mobile what will this number be in 2015STIRRAT I would expect that the range will be somewhere between 25 and 50 by 2015 SEARS App vs mobile web The app world is fueled by costperinstall advertising dollars from the most popular apps such as Kingcomamp8217s Candy Crush yes or no STIRRAT Yes The most aggressive companies in the mobile space are companies whose businesses have revenue streams that are heavily reliant on mobile Itamp8217s not unusual for new mediums to see a greater prominence of performance and with the immense scale of supply even when we get to the point where mobile is on every brand plan I still expect that there will be large amounts of impressions being filled by performance advertisers SEARS The mobile web world suffers from an inability to track users and is waiting for better targeting and more brand dollars to arrive in mobile yes or no STIRRAT Yes There is a perception out there that mobile tracking is difficult and that does hold back spend But there are great solutions out there covering the metrics that matter to performance and brand advertisers and solid app and site analytics solutions Plus there are solutions that enable us to track real world behaviours even detecting when a consumer is at a store till after being exposed or interacting with an ad amp8211 thatamp8217s something that digital has been unable to do until now SEARS It seems like many of the leading agency trading desks have been slow to embrace mobile After they solidified their work in display most trading desks focused on building their video capabilities What will be the catalysts for trading desks amp8211 and their operating agencies at the biggest holding companies amp8211 to place more focus on mobile STIRRAT1 Continued aggressive adoption of smartphones and usage by consumers amp8211 already happening2 More display budgets going to mobile with the agencies amp8211 already happening3 More data mobile location and traditional offline data becoming addressable on mobile SEARS Are the big carriers still relevant in mobile Everything now happens amp8220off deckamp8221 SMS and call revenue is declining yet carriers sit on a treasure trove of data What are the biggest threats and opportunities for carriers and which ones around the globe are the most progressive STIRRAT The carriers seem yet to have properly capitalized on their data which is understandable as there are obvious challenges in monetizing consumer data The broadband providers faced a similar challenge years ago and none of them seemed to be able to take advantage of the data they collected My feeling is that there needs to be an honest dialogue between them and their customers on the value of customer data and perhaps a value exchange amp8211 perhaps discounted or free data usage in return for the right to use browsing and demographic data to enable targeted advertising SEARS The future of user ID and cross device targeting What do your advertisers use today for user targeting Which companies or types of companies are in the best position to facilitate user ID and cross device targeting STIRRAT Most advertisers today make use of the solutions offered by their advertising platform partners amp8211 most ad networks and platforms have their own proprietary targeting and tracking Layered on top of that typically from a tracking perspective are companies such as Adx and Hasoffers who deduplicate conversions across multiple platforms In terms of the companies out there well positioned to enable cross device targeting AdTruth and Drawbridge stand out as having strong solutionsSEARS What are the top three amp8220data pointsamp8221 either missing or of dubious quality in mobile mediaSTIRRAT1 Location from latitudelongitude is present in around 30 of all bid requests we see amp8211 that is driven by the fact that many apps do not need location and so donamp8217t have permission to access it and some users do not allow location for the apps that do This is not really a problem as there is still very big scale there2 Device ids particularly from iOS are increasingly less common Again this is not a huge issue as there are other identifiers that enable appropriate targeting and tracking3 Consistency of information around apps verticals varies from one supply source to anotherSEARS Tell us about StrikeAdSTIRRAT StrikeAd is the first mobile DSP and the only one with a global presence across US EMEA and APAC We deliver programmatic mobile campaigns for five of the top six global trading desks The combination of our proprietary technology coupled with the capabilities of our key partners within the mobile supply data and tech space enables us to deliver great performing solutions for both brand and performance advertisersSEARS Please tell us amp183 Percentage increase managed budget media spend 2013 vs expected 2014 Global only o STIRRAT Our managed budget is expected to grow around 100 year on year with much greater growth expected from selfserve as more trading desks manage mobile DSPs themselvesamp183 How many employees globally headcount numbero STIRRAT amp167 Worldwide 67amp167 Europe 46 includes 30 at Kiev developmentamp167 The United States 17amp167 Asia 4SEARS What are StrikeAdamp8217s three biggest initiatives for 2014STIRRAT1 Data2 Upgraded bidder3 New GUI release SEARS By 2015 what percentage of total media spend in across your holding company or your agency or your agencytrading desk clients will be programmatic STIRRAT Not part of a holding company agency Industry estimates around 25 of display will be programmatic by 2015SEARS Apple vs Google iOS vs Android Closed vs Open amp8220The 1amp8221Apple vs the amp8220Middle Marketamp8221 Google How do you and your clients think about this dichotomy and how does it impact your advertisers And how do global markets with a preponderance of feature phones even fit into this mix STIRRAT I think most advertisers understand that in order to succeed in mobile it is essential to have a presence on both iOS and Android Very few advertisers address only one of these and typically donamp8217t treat either any differently I think on the tech side companies tend to either focus on smartphones or feature phones and that choice is typically driven by where the company is founded Cheaper feature phones will penetrate the markets currently dominated by feature phones over the coming years SEARS To drive adoption of direct deal automation programmatic premium and use of the programmatic channel what are the major impediments to overcome Rank these in numerical order STIRRAT3 Operational or workforce issues inside the holding companies or operating agencies1 Premium direct deal inventory availability via programmatic2 Lack of proper ad technology4 Alignment of agency compensation modelsI think one of the key challenges of programmatic premium within mobile is that the publisher landscape is very different amp8211 mobile is forcing us to redefine premium due to the very different browsing habits of consumers on mobile devices A title such as Angry Birds is not an uncommon quoted example of a premium site on mobile and is a very different title to those being traded online in a premium programmatic fashionSEARS How are RFPs used in your business What does a amp8220Programmatic IOamp8221 or a amp8220Programmatic RFPamp8221 look likeSTIRRAT We see very detailed RFPs for DSP technology which are very thorough and delve very deeply into our technology stack SLAs etc and we see standard RFPs for our managed service which have typical target audiences and objectives More and more trading desk teams are starting to get involved much earlier in the planning process and so we are getting involved in workshopping possible campaigns before RFPs go outSEARS All of you work for global companies What global markets are the leaders and laggards in mobile programmaticSTIRRAT The US and UK seem to be the markets leading the charge in mobile programmatic with continental Europe lagging by what feels like around a year The Asia Pacific market feels like it is around two years behind I believe the challenges that exist in the most advanced markets are related to trading desks wanting to ensure that they have the right technology partners while in the less advanced markets are more related to a slower overall shift towards mobile That could mean that within a few years all of these markets could catch upTell us a bit more about youSEARS If you could travel for pleasure anywhere in the world to a place you have never been where would you goSTIRRAT West Coast of the US amp8211 Iamp8217ve still never made it further west than Vegas and would love to spend some time seeing the sights and meeting friends in LA and SF as well as sampling the vineyardsSEARS When is the last time you went out for a three martini lunchSTIRRAT Quite a while ago amp8211 lunchtime boozing is not conducive to a productive afternoon I had two nonalcoholic Mojitos at a lunch last week amp8211 does that countThanks GavinJay Sears is Senior Vice President Marketplace Development for the Rubicon Project Sears works with leadership and business unit heads across the company to expand Rubicon Projectamp8217s potential market Sears has also served as General Manager REVV Buyer where he was responsible for global relations with the buy side including ad holding companies ad agencies agency trading desks and demand side platforms headquartered in North America Jay can be reached at jsearsrubiconprojectcomCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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A Q&A with StrikeAd's Gavin Stirrat -- The Jay Sears Mobile Leader Series

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