Guardian News & Media adds Improve Digital to programmatic partners list
Improve Digital has struck a deal with Guardian News & Media to use the former’s supply-side platform (SSP) as the publisher intends to improve monetization efforts beyond UK shores.
The appointment comes amid a year of change to The Guardian's adtech strategy
As part of the deal, Netherlands-based Improve Digital will use its SSP 360 Polaris to monetize The Guardian’s display advertising inventory. The available inventory includes open RTB and Deal_ID’s for display, and rich media formats across multiple global markets.
The announcement comes at the end of a year where the publisher has doubled-down on ensuring transparent practices among its adtech partners, with Improve Digital now one of 12 adtech partners of The Guardian, according to the publisher’s ads.txt file.
Bastiaan Spaans, Improve Digital senior vice president commercial, said: “Through our customer centric and transparent business and cutting edge technology we will support all their programmatic aims and deliver real tangible business returns.”
The Guardian addressed its adtech strategy late last year due to suspicions around the ‘take-rates’ of its existing adtech partners in a sweeping operation that eventually culminated in it filing a legal suit against publicly-listed company Rubicon Project for hidden fees – although the adtech company itself disputes the claim.
Since then it has axed Rubicon Project from its adtech partners list, and subsequently gone about naming a host of alternatives on its new look list of adtech partners, such as OpenX.