Mediaocean is transforming its advertising software suite for the age of convergence, pulling together its products into a single platform. The move follows the recent integration with 4C, which Mediaocean acquired last year to expand into social media, e-commerce and connected TV advertising.
“We are unifying all our products into an omnichannel advertising platform,” Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer at Mediaocean, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “We have three areas — media intelligence, media management and media finance — and then wrapping all that with an omnichannel data warehouse that will ultimately provide a single view of the customer and campaign performance.”
The unified platform combines the features of its software brands — such as Spectra for traditional media, Prisma for digital, Lumina for planning and Aura for time tracking — with 4C’s Scope platform for closed ecosystems, which are commonly called “walled gardens.” As part of the introduction for its unified platform, Mediaocean unveiled a redesigned logo.
For more than 50 years, Mediaocean, formerly known as Donavan Data Systems, has been the software solution of choice for both TV advertisers and sellers., powering ad management, inventory and billing. With the acquisition of 4C, Mediaocean became a cross-platform company that expanded beyond its roots to planning, optimization and measurement.
‘We’re Not Built on Cookies’
Its move to unify those systems comes as consumer concerns about privacy lead technology companies like Google and Apple to give people more ways to avoid online tracking. Google next year plans to end support for third-party cookie tracking in its popular Chrome browser, and recently announced it won’t support cookieless technologies. Apple soon will update the software that runs iPhones and other devices to warn customers when apps want to track their online activities.
“We’re not built on cookies, we’re not a programmatic platform. We are truly omnichannel, and we built out a ‘graph of graphs’ with partners such as Transunion that’s anchored on offline identifiers and can be applied across channels through our unified platform,” Goldman said. “Advertisers need an independent and interoperable platform to work across. That’s how we’re anchoring Mediaocean.”
In addition to developing a unified ads manager for closed ecosystems, the company is providing a unified approach for linear and CTV channels.
“You can’t have linear and CTV in siloes. There needs to be a uniform way to plan and buy audiences, and reduce overlap,” Goldman said. “That’s what we’ve built. It’s a solution for the buy-side that’s adopted by the sell-side.”
‘Reducing Adtech Toll’
With more consumers shopping online, retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Target and Kroger have opened their websites to advertisers that seek to reach consumers when they’re most ready to buy products. Those retailer ad networks are seeing rapid growth.
“It’s a massive opportunity that we’re unlocking for both the buy- and sell-side,” Goldman said.
He also sees Mediaocean as a key resource for advertising agencies that seek to strengthen ties to their clientele of marketers and brand managers.
“You have agencies under more pressure than ever to be accountable, efficient, transparent,” Goldman said. “Our platform helps bring these parties together and restore trust, and allow people to really focus on what they’re great at, which is building amazing campaigns without having to worry about managing approvals, payments and reconciliations.”
Mediaocean has a global footprint with 1,200 employees working in 20 offices worldwide. About $150 billion in yearly media spending goes through its platform, or about a quarter of the global total.
“Our vision is to empower a world where marketers can market the way consumers consume, which is seamless across channels and devices. A big part is removing the friction in the lumascape, if you will, and reducing adtech toll at each step,” Goldman said. “The scale is there, and now as we put everything into one place, we can really unlock that full value. It’s a transformational moment for Mediaocean.”
