SINGAPORE: Singapore Media Exchange (SMX), the digital alliance between Singapore’s premium publishers Mediacorp and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), started operating officially on Tuesday (May 8), under the leadership of newly appointed CEO Hari Shankar. The joint venture to launch Singapore’s first premium advertising marketplace was announced in August 2017.
A digital media marketing veteran, Mr Shankar brings more than 15 years’ experience in media management to the new role. Before joining SMX, Hari was the Managing Director at Ecselis, the strategic arm of the Havas Media Group. He previously held leadership roles at Paypal and Performics in Asia-Pacific.
Advertisement“Brands are looking for quality choices in the marketplace,” said Shankar. “SMX is a harbinger of things to come in the programmatic space in Singapore, following similar developments in other parts of the world. I am incredibly excited to lead this initiative to deliver a premium, brand-safe alternative for programmatic buyers in Singapore.”
According to comScore, Mediacorp and SPH are among the top five digital properties with the highest traffic in Singapore, collectively reaching three in four digital consumers every month.
The SMX coalition brings together some of the best-known, market-leading digital brands across news, business, automotive, property, entertainment and lifestyle verticals under one roof.
For example, Channel NewsAsia, The Straits Times and Today Online are the top three most-visited news sites in Singapore. Through a single SMX programmatic platform, advertisers can now enjoy quality audiences at scale, and within brand-safe and trusted environments.
AdvertisementAdvertisementTECHNOLOGY PARTNERS
AppNexus and Lotame have been selected as key technology partners after a six-month review.
AppNexus will power the advertising exchange across all digital channels (desktop, mobile) and formats (display, video, native), while Lotame will underpin its data capabilities, including unifying audience data across its coalition partners.
The technology partnership with AppNexus and Lotame closely follows the model behind Kiwi Premium Advertising Exchange, a similar publisher co-operative in New Zealand.
As part of its long-term product roadmap, SMX will continue to explore strategic collaborations and invest in new programmatic features to meet evolving advertiser needs.
For example, SMX has a multi-screening capability that now enables advertisers to synchronise their programmatic buys real-time with TV event triggers.
The ad sync feature leverages the strengths of Mediacorp’s TV reach to drive online-offline integrated marketing synergies. Such a capability has not been available in Singapore until now. In addition, SMX will be one of the first strategic partners of the Advertising ID Consortium when it launches in the Asia-Pacific region.
Roger Moy, head of consumer insights and analytics at Mediacorp and chair of SMX, said: “Since announcing the SMX initiative, we have been firing on all cylinders to rethink a different kind of ad exchange that marries the unique strengths of our co-operative partners.
“The recent milestones and collaborations, from online-offline multi-screen ad sync, unified audience data insights to open identity solution adoption, bear testament to how the team has been listening and responding to our customers. We are excited by the possibilities.”
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