The independent ad platform continues to meet rising demand for transparent, conflict-free, and direct ad trading that drives maximum mutual value for supply and demand

New York & Paris, June 8, 2023 — Equativ, the leading independent ad platform, is celebrating one year as a unified organization following its rebrand from Smart AdServer in June 2022. Achieving multiple advances over the last 12 months, Equativ reported record net recurring revenue uplift last year, reaching $100 million. This is in addition to the significant increase of data processing and trading volumes – with the company now running 120 billion auctions daily – and the announcement of new principle investor, Bridgepoint, to accelerate scale and growth.

The unveiling of ‘Equativ’ came after its acquisitions of LiquidM and DynAdmic, which took place under the ‘Smart’ name. Inspired by its stakeholders’ dedication to treating clients equally, and with the aim of consolidating all three companies under one brand, the Equativ name embodies a unified presence and culture that spans a team of 600 employees across 16 countries.

The unifying purpose of Equativ is to harmonize the interests of advertisers, publishers and consumers alike. This has meant driving standards in privacy, value path optimization, transparency, sustainability and customer service, while enabling increasingly direct relationships at scale. This is achieved via its vertically-integrated platforms on the demand- and supply-sides, as well as its video marketplace platforms.

A key focus area has been driving innovation in connected TV, with Equativ swiftly purchasing a major stake in Nowtilus following the rebrand. The investment in the digital video personalization company secured industry-leading dynamic server-side ad insertion (SSAI) capacity and increased access to programmatic buyers for sell-side TV clients. By giving broadcasters, rights owners, distributors, and operators the ability to drive addressable live TV advertising and amplify yield, the partnership has proved a vital addition to Equativ’s fully interoperable programmatic video ad tech stack.

With the belief that direct deals are set to dominate the next wave of programmatic, improving transaction efficiency is also a vital innovation focus. Over the past year, Equativ has substantially extended its curation options to offer a comprehensive self-service suite that delivers value-added solutions across the value chain. By allowing buy- and sell-side curators to harness one cohesive solution for a range of purposes – including media planning, multi-publisher deal generation, first-party data activation, audience building, AI and extension abilities – Equativ facilitates easy and fast trading, while aligning deals with specific business needs.

To meet constantly rising demand for reduced programmatic complexity and greater clarity, the company has invested heavily in its marketplace buying module that will remove silos between demand- and supply-side tools. In development since 2019, the marketplace will allow advertisers and publishers to manage all stages of programmatic transactions in the same space. Set to be hosted within the Equativ Buyer Connect (EBC) platform, the initiative will present a natural progression of the company’s driving goal to streamline supply paths by facilitating clear, flexible and direct dealing, in addition to smart data-led targeting and immediate campaign activation.

Through 2023 and beyond, Equativ is determined to move forward in a way that upholds high ethical and environmental standards. As it strives to cultivate priority growth areas such as CTV, video, and curation, the company is simultaneously keeping close watch on minimizing climate costs. This includes evaluating the carbon impact of total cross-organisational activity using an approach accredited by the Agence pour la Transition Écologique (ADEME) and working on a methodology designed to help clients achieve sustainability-led optimization.

“This is not just a first birthday milestone, we are also celebrating the fact we have the scale and resources to realize our ambitions”, comments Arnaud Créput, Equativ’s CEO. “At its core, our platform is rooted in exemplifying what ad tech should be: transparent, efficient, privacy-centric, and built to meet the interests of all players.

By carefully balancing just enough centralized governance with regional autonomy, we have successfully forged a company culture that unites global teams around this key goal — and with proven buy- and sell- side capabilities, the collective platform is now strongly placed to realise this vision, driving higher ROI and better yields across advertising channels, responsibly. The outstanding growth achieved so far is testament to a long-standing foundation of ongoing innovation. As the only scaled independent alternative to walled gardens, we’re determined to help more publishers and advertisers effectively harness the opportunities of the open web.”