NEW YORK, LONDON & SITTARD, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xaxis, the world's largest programmatic media and technology platform, announced today it has agreed to acquire media trading firm Bannerconnect. Headquartered in Sittard, the Netherlands, Bannerconnect is one of Europe’s top programmatic advertising specialists with a decade-long track record developing proprietary ad technology solutions to power automated campaigns for the world’s most sophisticated marketers. The acquisition will enable Xaxis to fully integrate Bannerconnect’s proprietary technology into the Xaxis audience platform, enhancing the company’s ability to deliver industry-leading results to its 2,700 clients around the world. Bannerconnect will continue under the leadership of current CEO Sebastiaan Schepers.
The deal will enhance the global capabilities of Xaxis with the addition of Bannerconnect’s talented, 40-plus person team and complementary technology offerings including the firm’s industry-leading Bright™ real-time optimization platform. Bright provides advertisers unprecedented real-time optimization and visualization of campaign performance. Today’s news follows the company’s recent announcement that it has merged with 24/7 Media and its recent acquisition of ad tech firm Crystal Semantics. In addition to augmenting the Xaxis platform, Bannerconnect will be used across trading desk initiatives within GroupM.
“Bannerconnect has created proven programmatic technology while also gaining experience developing effective campaigns for some of the world’s largest advertisers,” said Brian Lesser, CEO of Xaxis. “This acquisition will immediately enhance our technology capabilities and support our overall mission of empowering brands to reach relevant audiences wherever they access media.”
Founded in 2004, Bannerconnect pioneered ad exchange trading in Europe and, more recently, was the first European firm to effectively package multi-device synchronization solutions, allowing advertisers to coordinate online display ads with those seen on audience members’ mobile devices. In addition to its Sittard headquarters, Bannerconnect has offices in Amsterdam and London.
“Xaxis has become the global pacesetter for the programmatic industry and this deal enables us to extend our footprint and the Bright platform to a much broader, worldwide market,” said Schepers, CEO of Bannerconnect. “With programmatic ad spending projected to grow by double-digit percentages for the next several years according to eMarketer, it is an exciting time to join with the market leader to continue to bring clients the most effective solutions in the space.”
“Bannerconnect has been a longtime strategic partner for many of our agencies and the acquisition will effectively bring the company’s proprietary technology and industry-leading thought leadership in-house,” said Ruud Wanck, global chief operating officer for GroupM Interaction. “Under the Xaxis umbrella, and across GroupM, we will be able to further develop these solutions on a global level, enhancing our overall competitive advantage and extending our lead as the world’s leading player in the programmatic space.”
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.
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