Xaxis and GumGum Introduce World’s First Programmatic Platform for In-Image Advertising

Partnership Enables Clients to Programmatically Buy Premium, In-Image Ads in Concert with the Rest of their Digital Spend

NEW YORK – Xaxis, the world’s largest programmatic media and technology platform, announced it has partnered with GumGum to launch the first-ever programmatic product for buying in-image advertising at scale.

“Marrying the audience capabilities of programmatic with our ability to elegantly integrate creative into the images where consumers focus their attention makes this a truly unique opportunity for brands”

Through the Xaxis programmatic platform, clients will be able to buy ads across GumGum’s premium, in-image inventory in full coordination with the rest of their digital spend. In-image advertising turns photos across the Web into marketing vehicles, allowing brands to incorporate their ads within relevant photos on brand safe sites – for example pairing an automotive ad with a photo of the same vehicle or a competitor’s model.

Xaxis clients will gain first-look rights to programmatic inventory across GumGum’s scalable platform, including images surrounding “tentpole events” ranging from movie award shows to major sporting events to high-profile technology launches.

“In-image ads represent a natural and effective connection point with audiences, providing brands with easy integration into the media being consumed,” said Brian Lesser, global CEO of Xaxis. “By applying our advanced audience insights across GumGum’s massive inventory of premium in-image, we’re bringing a new level of intelligence, performance and results to this exciting channel that has not been unlocked for advertisers programmatically.”

In addition to leveraging the Xaxis Turbine data management platform for audience targeting, campaigns can be run using GumGum’s contextual understanding of images on a keyword and category basis, or timed to coincide with images related to major events such as sports championships, entertainment awards programs and music festivals.

“Marrying the audience capabilities of programmatic with our ability to elegantly integrate creative into the images where consumers focus their attention makes this a truly unique opportunity for brands,” said Ophir Tanz, founder and CEO of GumGum. “We are proud to introduce this one-of-a-kind offering in partnership with Xaxis.”

GumGum invented the in-image advertising format in 2008, and its platform has since grown to provide the world’s leading advertisers with scalable access to billions of images and more than 300 million global unique visitors per month across its platform of more than 2,000 premium properties.

According to a report released by the IAB earlier this year, Nielsen found the in-image format drove an average of 37 percent brand lift for campaigns whose primary objective was awareness, almost three times the industry average. According to comScore, engagement across GumGum’s platform is 300 percent higher than the industry average.

At launch, the new product will be available in the US with a rollout planned for additional markets.

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 33 markets in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. For more information, visit xaxis.com.

About GumGum

GumGum is a scalable media platform, built on the belief that for ads to achieve maximum impact they should appear seamlessly within content where user attention is actively engaged. With access to billions of images across thousands of quality sites, GumGum is the largest in-image advertising provider for publishers and brands. Known for inventing the in-image category, GumGum’s patented technology overlays contextually relevant display ads across the lower portion of relevant photos. The result is higher viewability, engagement and lift in brand metrics than any other display advertising option available today. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with five additional offices around the US. Its investors include NEA, Upfront Ventures, First Round Capital and Crosscut Ventures. For more information, visit gumgum.com.