Combined Company to Be Known as Xaxis; Brian Lesser to Serve as Global CEO, David J. Moore to Serve as Chairman
NEW YORK – Xaxis, the world’s largest programmatic media and technology platform, announced today the finalization of its merger with 24/7 Media. The combined company will continue under the Xaxis name and will be led by existing Xaxis global CEO Brian Lesser. David J. Moore, the founder, CEO and chairman of 24/7 Media will serve as Xaxis chairman.
“Publishers will be able to maintain better control of their inventory and advertisers will have more direct access to relevant, custom-developed audiences across an unparalleled universe of premium digital properties.”
Mark Grether will remain as Xaxis global chief operating officer and Christina Van Tassell will become chief financial officer. Nicolle Pangis will become the company’s chief revenue officer and Paul Dolan will continue in his role as senior vice president, global business development. Caspar Schlickum has been elevated from his position of managing director, EMEA for Xaxis to CEO, EMEA. Xaxis regional managing directors Michel de Rijk (APAC), Brian Gleason (North America) and Lucas Mentasti (Latin America) will continue to run their respective regions. Sara Hafele, vice president of human resources for Xaxis, will lead all human resource related activities for the new company.
The new Xaxis will serve more than 2,700 clients around the globe, providing the industry’s single most comprehensive platform for programmatic audience buying across all digital media channels and devices. The merged company will direct more than $750 million of audience-targeted media buys across 32 markets in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Combined, the company will manage over two trillion impressions annually.
“By consolidating both the buy and sell sides within a single platform we’re bringing advertisers and publishers closer together, enabling a more efficient marketplace for both brands and media owners,” said Xaxis Global CEO Lesser. “Publishers will be able to maintain better control of their inventory and advertisers will have more direct access to relevant, custom-developed audiences across an unparalleled universe of premium digital properties.”
The merger further extends the Xaxis lead in the programmatic space, enhancing the company’s ability to create highly scalable and sequential, multi-channel campaigns around the globe. The combination also accelerates the growth of Xaxis in the programmatic brand advertising arena, boosting advertisers’ ability to run major brand campaigns across top tier digital media including display, video, mobile, social, radio and out-of-home channels.
According to a November 2013 IAB / Winterberry Group study, 85% of advertisers and 72% of publishers now utilize programmatic technology with the publisher number expected to rise to 83% in the next two years. Xaxis enables advertisers and publishers to maximize the impact of their programmatic efforts via the industry’s most comprehensive set of proprietary technology solutions, access to a tightly integrated stable of best in class partners and the support of the world’s largest team of programmatic media specialists.
As part of the transition, Real Media Group’s exclusive access to publisher inventory has been rebranded as the Xaxis Publisher Network. The network accesses 187 million unique visitors across more than 1,000 sites. Open AdStream, 24/7 Media’s flagship publisher technology serving 450 publishers across 12 markets, is now Xaxis for Publishers. These products join the Xaxis stable of industry leading media product offerings.
“Programmatic audience buying is becoming an increasingly integral and mainstream element of most advertisers’ and publishers’ operations,” said Chairman Moore. “As a combined entity, the new Xaxis will be better positioned than any other player in the space to assist all stakeholders in getting the most out of their digital advertising efforts.”
About Xaxis
Xaxis is a global digital media platform that programmatically connects advertisers and publishers to audiences across all addressable channels. Xaxis combines proprietary technology, unique data assets and exclusive media relationships with the brightest team of audience analysts, data scientists and software engineers. Advertisers working with Xaxis achieve higher ROI from digital marketing campaigns. Publishers deliver relevant content and advertising to new and valuable audiences. Xaxis works with over 2,700 clients across 32 markets in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. For more information, visit www.xaxis.com.
