The SpaceStation has bought programmatic company, SouthernX. This follows a partnership deal signed in May that gave Media24’s digital sales house access to programmatic buying solutions through SouthernX.
“We are thrilled to have SouthernX on board and cannot wait to see the benefits of our range of programmatic offers roll out for our clients,” says Gustav Goosen, CEO of The SpaceStation, in a media release issued on Friday morning.
“We have always strongly believed in the effectiveness of premium ad campaigns. Now we are able to offer even more, a simpler solution that is a single point of contact for both premium and programmatic (RTB and Premium Direct) ad buys, giving clients strong, engaging and strategic campaigns that use the best of both approaches across a network of SA’s largest digital publishers, largely driven by 24.com at Media24,” says Goosen, adding that this move will take their competitive offering and the value they provide to clients to the next level.
SouthernX will be fully integrated into The SpaceStation as of 1 November to form a wholly publisher owned private media marketplace within Media24. This move will mean that The SpaceStation will be the only media sales house with expertise in both premium (including native) and programmatic, with the breadth and depth of inventory to back it up.
The new division will be headed up by SouthernX’s managing director, Paula Raubenheimer, who will become head of programmatic at The SpaceStation.
“This integration is a strong reflection of the growing importance of programmatic in South Africa’s digital media space. For South Africa’s largest publisher to have made this move so that they can be certain that programmatic is 100% integrated into their existing sales teams, is a telling acknowledgement of the value of programmatic,” she says.
The integration means that The SpaceStation’s programmatic offering will be even more agnostic in terms of both technology and buyers. SouthernX essentially becomes The SpaceStation’s platform agnostic Sell-Side Platform (SSP) able to plug into App Nexus, Google Ad Exchange and others in the near future.
As one of the first media exchange market places in South Africa, SouthernX have always been at the forefront of the technology in SA’s digital media arena. “Coupling our formidable experience with The SpaceStation’s world-class inventory will see programmatic level up and the industry move into a whole new chapter,” adds Raubenheimer.
