First International Office Located in London
LOS ANGELES & LONDON – the Rubicon Project, the Internet advertising infrastructure company, brings its online advertising network optimization technology to the UK market, allowing publishers to fully harness the power of the channel. Jay Stevens, former Vice President of European operations, and most recently SVP of Audience, at MySpace, joins the company as Vice President and General Manager, International.
“Capitalizing on our global presence is crucial to best serving our customers and partners. Up to 40 percent of visitors to U.S. websites come from outside the U.S. On the ground relationships with ad networks and other sales channels ensure that we’re fully optimizing the value of our customers’ inventory around the world,” said Frank Addante, CEO and founder of the Rubicon Project. “Jay is the ideal addition to solidify our international footing. His extensive global business experience will help pave the way for the Rubicon Project’s continued aggressive growth in new markets – expanding opportunity not only for premium U.S. publishers, but for publishers in the UK and in Europe as well.”
Stevens is a proven digital veteran with deep experience in interactive marketing and international business development. As MySpace’s first international hire, he was instrumental in building out the social networking site’s European footprint and managed the P&L for 12 of its EMEA markets, and most recently served as its SVP of Audience. Prior to joining MySpace in February of 2006, Jay was the director of international for Silverpop, the leading email marketing software and services provider. Stevens has been recognized by the Evening Standard as one of the 1000 most influential Londoners; by Revolution Magazine as the 5th most influential person in digital media in the UK; and by Advertising Age as one of the top 20 interactive marketers of the year.
“European online publishers are facing exactly the same problems that US publishers do, especially in the UK where advertising networks account for 44% of online display spend. The Internet advertising industry is maturing and shifting to third party sales channels, and online advertising networks are becoming an increasingly prevalent and relevant part of the mix. Display is on the upswing, brands are moving more money online, and publishers are looking for more efficient monetization strategies to squeeze as much revenue as possible from every last impression,” said Stevens. “Having the right technology solution is crucial for publishers trying to build an effective channel management model that fully capitalizes on their non-guaranteed inventory, domestic and international.”
About the Rubicon Project
Based in Los Angeles, the Rubicon Project launched in 2007 and set on a mission to automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry. Responding to one of the largest problems plaguing website publishers today – monetizing ad space that goes unsold (as much as 70 – 80 percent) across a fast-growing number of global ad networks – the Rubicon Project pioneered the category of Ad Network Optimization (ANO). Backed by $33 million in funding from Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, and IDG Ventures, the Rubicon Project developed its patent-pending Smart Matching™ technology, which uses billions of pieces of proprietary market data to match each publisher ad impression to the best money-making opportunities from ad networks.
The company serves more than 1500 premium customers (publishers like Gannett, CareerBuilder, Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive and YellowPages.com) by optimizing more than 40 billion ads each month across hundreds of demand sources. Reaching more than 500 million unique Internet users, the Rubicon Project is one of the largest sources of ad inventory and reach on the Internet and the preferred source of targeted, audience-segmented inventory for ad networks and other resellers, many exclusive, around the world. The unique combination of demand optimization and SmartMatch™ technology drives revenue lift ranging from 30-300% for the Rubicon Project’s customers.
