Transcription of Finance News Network Interview with Adslot Limited (ASX:ADJ) CEO, Ian Lowe Lelde Smits: Hello I’m Lelde Smits for the Finance News Network and joining me from Adslot Limited
(ASX:ADJ) is its CEO, Ian Lowe. Ian welcome back to FNN.
Ian Lowe: Thanks for having me.
Lelde Smits: In April the Company completed the integration of the Adslot marketplace with the Symphony technology it acquired in late 2013. What benefits is this providing to Adslot’s clients and how has it been received by the industry?
Ian Lowe: Well first of all let me explain what this integration constitutes. So this is where we’ve been able to assemble a large community of online publishers, within our platform, capture the inventory that they sell to media buyers, in particular media agencies. And through the integration with Symphony, we’ve been able to bring those large buying and selling communities together into one platform, for the first time. So this is a significant milestone for the business and indeed for the industry, particularly in a market such as Australia, where we have approaching ubiquitous adoption of that technology.
In terms of the response that we’re getting from the market, it could really only be described as extremely positive. There’s a genuine appetite for technology to displace a lot of the inefficient processesthat exist, in the way that online media has traded to date. And so we’re starting to see that appetite translate to a lift in activity, trading activity going through the platform. And so obviously that bodes well for our future.
Lelde Smits: Adslot recently released an update indicating growth in trading revenues. What trends are driving this growth?
Ian Lowe: So we’re seeing media buyers come in and transact through our platform for the first time. And we’re seeing the number of buyers that are doing this grow. In tandem with that, we’re seeing buyers that come in and transact, come back to transact again. So we’re getting that repeat activity, which is obviously accelerating the growth in activity generally.
And then the third observation that we’ve made is that we’re seeing the average transaction values increase. So as the buyers come back to transact again and again, and their confidence is building, they’re spending more through our platform each time.
Lelde Smits: Adslot is a global business, in which markets are you seeing the strongest growth?
Ian Lowe:Certainly the earliest adoption has come out of the US market. So to this point in time, or over the last 12 months, two thirds of the dollars that have transacted through ourplatform have been derived from the US market. We really look at the phase we’re in currently as the early adoption phase. And we believe by the end of 2015 calendar year, we’ll be into a fast follower phase, where the acceptance of the technology will be more widespread.
But to give you an example of the sort of lift that we are seeing, in the month of April the dollars transacted through Adslot, exceeded the entire March quarter. And so we believe again, these are strong signs of a future that looks bright.
Lelde Smits: Over the past few months, Adslot have announced a number of new client wins for the Symphony technology. How are you progressing activating these new clients?
Ian Lowe: The activations are going really well, we would describe them as very much on track. We’ve done a number of major agency activations with our Symphony technology, in both the US and Australia in recent months. And the value of this really extends beyond the contract values of those deployments themselves.
So by being able to capture demand through Symphony, it really enlarges the pool of ad spend that we have direct access to, through the integration of Symphony and Adslot. So we think that’s an important strategic opportunity for us.
Lelde Smits: How is the sales pipeline looking?
Ian Lowe: Pipeline is strong. We hope to be making announcements about additional material Symphony contract wins, in the near future.
Lelde Smits: Finally Ian, the digital media industry seems to be continually growing and changing. What trends do you think we’re likely to see emerge over the next 12 months?
Ian Lowe: I think the continuation of the shift of consumer attention into digital channels generally. So online digitally enabled television etc. In tandem with that, we’re going to see an acceleration of the shift in advertising dollars, to appeal to consumers in those digital environments. And we’re already seeing signs of that acceleration. So really in all of this, the industry is going to require automation to bring efficiencies to a growing landscape, which is already inefficient. And so that’s where I think Adslot is very well positioned, to take advantage of this transition.
Lelde Smits: Ian Lowe, thank you for the update from Adslot.
Ian Lowe: Thank you.
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