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Quarterly Earnings Technology Programmatic

Tremor Video CEO to exit as adtech outfit beats expectations

By Sean Larkin, Programmatic Reporter

February 9, 2017 | 4 min read

Tremor Video chief executive Bill Day is to exit the company, with Paul Caine now acting as interim CEO. The company revealed the news in its Q4 2016 results, when revenue rose 4% year-over-year to hit $53.8m, beating analyst expectations, although revenue for the full year was down by the same percentage points totaling $166.8m for 2016.

Tremor Video repositioning as an SSP
Tremor Video is reducing its reliance on its ad network and managed service buys

Tremor Video repositioning as an SSP

Tremor Video is reducing its reliance on its ad network and managed service buys

Day has resigned, effective immediately, and will serve as a special adviser to Tremor Video until June, with its chairman of the board Caine acting as CEO while it hunts for a more permanent successor, with headhunting outfit Hedrick & Struggles assisting in the task.

Day (pictured below) has served at the helm of Tremor Video since 2008, and oversaw its transition from startup to publicly listed outfit (it IPO'd in 2013) and his tenure ends with it “meeting or exceeding expectations” across all metrics, including record quarterly spend, revenue and gross profit.

Bill Day, Tremor Video's outgoing CEO

The adtech outfit experienced record total spend in the fourth quarter – up 25% year-over-year – to hit $84.8m, with total spend for the year coming in at $254.2m, although total revenue ($166.8m) for the year was down 4% compared to 2015, with its total profit ($24.3m up 7% year-over-year).

In a statement, Caine described the company’s close of the year as strong, noting that programmatic spend with the company was continuing to scale (up 96% year-over-year) as it continues to reduce its reliance on its I/O (insertion order) business, as well as the ad network model. Programmatic spend for 2016 was $138.6m; this is compared to $70.4m the year beforehand, according to the company's management.

“We have a lot of momentum heading into 2017 and as we move forward we’re poised to continue to build on our industry-leading position as a provider of software for brand effectiveness,” he added.

On the company’s CEO transition, he added: “We applaud Bill for his significant contributions during his eight years of service with the company, and we are grateful for his efforts in building our leadership position in the video advertising marketplace.

“We reached many important milestones during Bill’s tenure and his expertise has guided the company to a position of strength while setting us on a strong path for sustainable profitability and future growth.”

Last year was a transitionary one for Tremor Video with the outfit switching its UK managing director, with Andrew Morley, the current occupant of the role, deciding to close down the ad network and demand-side platform (DSP) side of the business there to instead focus on its supply-side platform (SSP) operations, with Day acknowledging that the DSP space is a difficult one to operate in. During the call the company’s leadership noted that it was to focus on cross-screen ad formats, plus over-the-top TV.

Wall Street has historically struggled to achieve a stable valuation of adtech outfits, and a number of those having taken a similar move (such as Rocket Fuel and Rubicon Project) announcing a considerable number of layoffs over the last three months.

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