[PubMatic x 4M]What are PubMatic's strengths and future prospects as it celebrates its 10th anniversary in Japan? Vol.1 | Media Innovation / Accelerating innovation in digital media

PubMatic, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “PubMatic”) is one of the leading companies in the digital advertising field and plays a central role in the evolution of programmatic advertising.

Kazuma Watamoto, Director of 4M Co., Ltd., asked Ryo Hishida, Director Customer Success of PubMatic, about the outlook for the coming post-cookie era and future focus areas.

Interviewer profile

Name: Ryo Hishida
Position: Pubmatic Co., Ltd. / Director, Customer Success

Joined Cyber ​​Communications (currently CARTA COMMUNICATIONS) in 2013 and worked in media development for ad networks and products for ad exchanges. He joined PubMatic in 2015 as a Strategic Account Manager and will be in his ninth year in 2024. Since joining the company, he has been in charge of existing customers on the supply side, supporting the introduction and monetization of in-house products, and currently serves as director of PubMatic Japan's customer success team, leading businesses in web media, apps, and OTT/CTV.

About PubMatic

cotton book
I'm pleased to meet you, today. First, please tell us about your company's service “PubMatic”.

Mr. Hishida
I think that our company is often recognized as an SSP (supply side platform), but in reality, we provide a wide range of solutions related to the entire digital advertising supply chain, not just SSP. It is provided not only to publishers but also to a wide range of customers, including buyers, data partners, retail and commerce media. We are a global software company that provides solutions developed to solve digital advertising business challenges and build efficient supply chains to customers around the world through the support of local teams.

About 4M and PubMatic's efforts

cotton book
Our company has been working with PubMatic since 2018.

Mr. Hishida
I agree. She has been working with 4M since March 2018, and I have been in charge of her since then. Basically, we monetize the inventory of publishers supported by 4M, and from the publisher's perspective, we are positioned as a demand partner. In this context, we are working to resolve various issues in the industry while consulting with 4M about how to solve various issues in the industry, improving monetization, and utilizing data.

cotton book
From PubMatic's perspective, what do you think are the features of 4M?

Mr. Hishida
I have the impression that our work with 4M continues to steadily grow despite the harsh environment of targeting issues, privacy issues, and the ups and downs of the ad tech industry, including global companies. I feel that this is primarily due to the strong relationships 4M has built with publishers. I also feel that 4M is always highly sensitive to information and keeps up with the rapidly changing market environment and trends. I get the impression that they are able to quickly access information, including global trends, and continue to learn independently. Due to the nature of the programmatic advertising industry, it is inevitable that there will be an information gap between Japan and overseas, but I feel that 4M is playing a role in properly understanding this, organizing it, and appropriately communicating it to publishers. Masu.

Changes in the ad tech industry and PubMatic

cotton book
How do you feel the ad tech industry has changed compared to when PubMatic expanded into Japan?

Mr. Hishida
I joined PubMatic about nine years ago. It was launched in Japan a year ago, so this year marks the 10th anniversary. At that time, header bidding was not yet widespread, and waterfall distribution using tags was the mainstream. However, with the advent of header bidding, the inefficient waterfall has been replaced by header bidding, greatly improving the efficiency of monetizing advertising. At the same time, supply chain transparency and ad inventory quality have come into question, and there has been much debate between buyers and publishers. Although many issues related to programmatic transparency and quality have been resolved over the past 10 years, I feel that there are still many issues that remain.

cotton book
I get the impression that PubMatic is investing in technology faster than other SSP operators, but do you think they are working on concrete solutions to address these issues?

Mr. Hishida
There have been various issues such as supply chain transparency and control, and ad fraud issues, but we have responded quickly to these issues and proposed solutions. We believe that we have played a role in leading the industry as an SSP by committing to industry-standard ads.txt and supply chain objects and thoroughly explaining them to publishers and buyers. A new solution we released this year called Activate also helps solve industry challenges such as controlling supply paths and reducing the carbon footprint of ad serving.

What is the gap between the global market and Japan?

cotton book
As your business expands globally, do you have any impressions about the progress in the European, American and Japanese markets? I have the impression that the introduction of the latest solutions such as ID solutions is progressing in Europe and the United States, but I feel that this is not progressing as much in Japan.

Mr. Hishida
You can feel the difference in the speed of decision-making. I think this is due to differences in national characteristics, and also to differences in the organizational structure of publishers. I have the impression that overseas publishers are able to run their organizations relatively smoothly, with top executives taking the lead in decision-making, such as the use of data and changes to monetization structures. In contrast, in Japan, organizations are vertically siled, and decision-making takes time due to the involvement of many internal stakeholders. In particular, there are cases in which the use of data is separated from the department in charge of monetization, and discussions often do not move forward.

cotton book
Are there any areas where Japanese publishers are better than publishers around the world, or conversely, where improvements can be made in order to increase CPM?

Mr. Hishida
I feel that Japanese publishers have very solid on-site operations. It takes time to make a decision, but in the decision-making process we identify and examine all possible risks, including how to include operations, so once a decision has been made, each person is responsible for following the plan. I get the impression that he carries out his tasks with a sense of purpose. In that sense, I feel that we can form a partnership with a lot of trust when we make a proposal to a Japanese publisher and decide on it.

On the other hand, I think there are aspects of decision-making that have not kept up with the rapid changes in programmatic advertising. For example, when I started working in the industry, there was little movement in the programmatic space of the open web to leverage publisher audience data. Programmatic advertising is used as a means to sell excess inventory at the highest possible price, and I think targeting has generally been viewed as a demand-side job. However, recently, the cookieless issue has sparked attention towards alternative ID solutions and audience data for publishers. This should be a huge opportunity for publishers, but due to the structural issues and risks involved in the organization, decisions about which course of action to take are not made quickly enough. I feel like I haven't. By increasing the presence of programmatic advertising as a valuable source of revenue and involving other departments in developing strategies to maximize its potential, we believe that we can maximize the chances of improving CPM. thinking about.

PubMatic's strengths compared to other companies

cotton book
What are PubMatic's strengths compared to other SSPs?

Mr. Hishida
We develop products for our customers and provide them around the world. I feel that marketing, sales, and customer support, from the development of this product to its use by customers, are functioning very strongly all over the world. In order to make this work, it is important to understand the company's mission, develop human resources, and process the process of reflecting customer feedback into products, but our company is extremely mature in this respect and has become a strength. I feel that there is.
In particular, we offer not only one product, but also a wide range of areas and customer groups, including PMP (Private Marketplace) functions, wrapper solutions such as OpenWrap, products for app and CTV publishers, and Convert in the Activate commerce area for buyers. We provide products. In addition, in the addressability area, we also provide tools such as Identity Hub to utilize ID solutions. Because we are able to provide products that combine a variety of functions in a variety of areas, we believe that our major strength is that we can support our customers in solving their various problems from the perspective of solutions.

Since PubMatic's founding, our mission has been to support the limitless potential of Internet content creators. While we remain committed to helping publishers monetize their inventory and audiences, we're also expanding to build more technology solutions across the supply chain.

cotton book
I feel that your company's recent moves are that you are focusing on PMP distribution, but why are you using PMP at this time? Also, could you tell us why you are strengthening cooperation with agencies?

Mr. Hishida
First, the proliferation of header bidding has turned publisher inventory into a commodity. In terms of inventory, all SSPs now handle almost the same inventory, and it is no longer possible to meet buyer demand simply by increasing publishers and inventory as in the past. First of all, I believe that this background has given rise to the need to proactively approach buyers and engage in dialogue to build relationships.

Additionally, in this environment, we have come to understand that what buyers are currently looking for is a high degree of transparency, control, quality, or efficiency, and the resulting sustainable ROI improvement. We believe that PMP is one way to achieve this. PMP comes in a variety of forms, from functionality for packaging with audience data to deals where buyers and publishers deal directly. We hope that by attracting buyers through the various functions and controls that PMP has, we will be able to bring better returns to publishers than other SSPs.

-Continue to vol.2

■About PubMatic

​​PubMatic is an independent technology company that maximizes customer value by providing the future supply chain for digital advertising. PubMatic's sell-side platform empowers the world's leading digital content creators on the open internet to control access to inventory, while helping marketers increase ROI and reach addressable audiences across ad formats and devices. We help you improve your profitability. Since our founding in 2006, our infrastructure-driven approach has enabled us to efficiently process and leverage data in real-time. We deliver scalable and flexible programmatic innovation to improve customer outcomes and support a vibrant and transparent digital advertising supply chain.​