Article first written for, and published as What Samsung’s AdHub Mobile Exchange Means to All of Us – Interview with Tim Cadogan, OpenX CEO on Technorati.
After all the initial excitement of the announcement settled, Technorati had the opportunity to dig a little deeper into the initiative in an interview with Tim Cadogan, CEO of OpenX. “What’s significant about this, is it’s the first time a major device manufacturer has embraced the Real-Time / Exchange space,” Tim explained. The new real-time bidding (RTB) exchange allows advertisers to purchase mobile inventory from mobile developers and Samsung within a closed marketplace environment. “It validates that real time ad trading is growing very quickly and becoming more important,” he continues.
“Second, it’s the world’s first truly global mobile private exchange,” Tim remarks. Global means more participation, more choice, and inherently higher quality of ads. Tim calls this a “new pool of high quality mobile inventory at scale.”
“Third,” Tim maintains, “this new partnership is indicative of the accelerating convergence of digital ad technology and mobile.” For sure. It’s part of what appears to be a natural evolutionary fit, mobile devices and the ads that make them particularly valuable to brands. We saw it with Google and Motorola, and now we’re seeing it in the form of this strategic partnership.
Along those lines, then, here’s my “fourth” to add to the conversation: It’s another platform to compete with Google AdMob and Apple iAd. That competition is good for product innovation, price, and selection alike.
So what’s all of this mean for users? I’d expect one thing it will deliver is ads properly optimized for devices. I’d like to see ads from this exchange take very few device resources and not freeze-up my phone. I’d also like these ads not try to be as sophisticated or detailed as their web counterparts, with an emphasis on being easily navigable. And as mentioned previously it should mean fewer really poor quality ads.
As mobile users, if we’re going to engage with these ads, let them be exciting, well designed, and as relevant as possible. There’s still a lot changing around how targeting will work, and what data can be tracked, but other mobile players are addressing that issue, as we’ve reported before. When it’s resolved, we’ll be ready.
As a business development manager, I have to admire the commitment that went into pulling together a deal like this. “At OpenX we have been preparing for the convergence for three years,” Tim explained. “We have been focused on building a truly “device agnostic” ad revenue platform.” That type of thing is a big investment of time and resources for the company. And it sounds like it may all pay off. Tim continued, “We think the new partnership highlights the robustness of our platform and we are truly honored that Samsung chose OpenX.”
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