Alma Media Oyj : Finland’s largest media companies to launch a shared Automated Guaranteed marketplace

Press release 25 August 2016 at 10 a.m.

FINLAND'S LARGEST MEDIA COMPANIES TO LAUNCH A SHARED AUTOMATED GUARANTEED MARKETPLACE

Ten Finnish media companies (Sanoma Corporation, Alma Media Corporation, Otavamedia Ltd, Aller Media Oy, A-lehdet Oy, MTV Oy, KSF Media Ab, Kaleva365 Oy, Improve Media Oy and Keskisuomalainen Oyj) will launch a shared Automated Guaranteed marketplace in autumn 2016. The marketplace makes it easier and faster for media agencies to plan and buy digital advertising. The marketplace covers desktop, mobile and video advertising products.

- It's great to see Finnish media companies joining forces and launching a shared tool for Automated Guaranteed buying. For quite some time now, there's been a need for a controlled and fast process for reserving and buying digital advertising. We and other media agencies are eagerly looking forward to using this new tool. It represents a positive step forward that we have been hoping to see, says Antti Kallio, Director of Technology at media agency Dagmar.

Digital advertising can be bought in an automated manner either as an Automated Guaranteed transaction or by Real Time Bidding. Buying guaranteed campaigns has been a largely manual process. The Automated Guaranteed solution automates the buying process, thereby significantly reducing the work phases involved in booking campaigns with guaranteed impressions.

- Our goal is to make it easier and more efficient to buy media space. Many of the tools are still in the development phase globally, so it is great to see Finnish media companies and agencies promoting progress in automated buying, says Johanna Vartiainen, Director of Digital Ad Operations and Development at Alma Media.

- We are pleased to work together to introduce a tool here in Finland that ensures the competitiveness of Finnish media in the digital market, adds Hans Edin, Chief Commercial Officer at Sanoma Media Finland.

The media companies have selected Adform A/S, a company that specialises in digital advertising solutions, as their shared system provider. Adform has operated in Finland since 2012 and it provides a comprehensive range of online advertising tools for advertising buyers as well as sellers. Adform's development resources provide a strong foundation for the development of the new system and its launch in the media market.

The shared Automated Guaranteed marketplace will simplify advertising buying processes by making it possible to buy digital advertising products from Finland's largest media companies through a single tool. The service allows buyers to select suitable media and products, check the availability of impressions, negotiate prices, reserve ad placements and submit campaign materials directly to the publishers' ad servers. Buyers will also be able to monitor the progress of their campaigns through the service.

In 2015, 85 per cent of digital advertising campaigns in Finland were bought with traditional guaranteed impressions. In recent years, digital advertising as a whole has quickly risen to become the largest category of advertising. Investments in digital advertising exceeded the print advertising volume for the first time in the first quarter of 2016. In 2015, digital advertising spending in Finland amounted to MEUR 286.1.

For more information, please contact:

Alma Media, Johanna Vartiainen, tel. +358 50 514 1952
Sanoma Media Finland, Timo Rinne, tel. +358 40 571 3634