DataXu Debuts Its Validated Inventory Marketplace

BOSTON, July 19, 2017 -- DataXu, the leading provider of programmatic marketing software, today announced the DataXu Validated Inventory Marketplace. The DataXu Validated Inventory Marketplace ensures advertisers are running on ad inventory whose source has been verified as authentic, eliminating exposure to counterfeit and diverted inventory from unauthorized middlemen. Comprised of real publishers and their authorized resellers, the DataXu Validated Inventory Marketplace is continuously monitored by best-in-class technology and is curated by DataXu media supply chain quality experts.

Advertisers pay more and get less when they buy counterfeit or diverted inventory, while publishers of the content don’t receive the premium. In conjunction with the IAB and other industry groups who recently announced the ads.txt initiative, DataXu and its partners are taking a leadership position to help solve the problem of counterfeit inventory (also known as “domain spoofing”) present in the programmatic supply chain. Counterfeit inventory is ad inventory that is represented as coming from a publisher or domain from which it does not actually originate. While such schemes ultimately result in impressions on actual websites served to real people, the false representations undermine the digital ecosystem and cause harm to all legitimate market participants.

“Advertisers should not have to worry about the quality or authenticity of the inventory they are buying through programmatic,” said Rory Edwards, DataXu’s VP of Business Development and Strategy. “The broad adoption of ads.txt by publishers and buyers will be a great step toward eradicating this type of malicious behavior; however, we can’t afford to wait for industry standards to gain traction. DataXu has always led the industry in protecting our customers from supply chain quality issues, and our Validated Marketplace is yet another investment we have made to give our customers complete peace of mind.”

This new offering builds on DataXu’s popular 97% Fraud Free Guarantee, which was the first of its kind, and has saved DataXu customers more than $80 million to date since its launch in 2015.

The Validated Marketplace consists of multiple layers of supply curation to prevent counterfeit inventory. Based on an extensive review of publishers and their authorized resellers, DataXu has validated nearly 1,700 publishers and sellers across the programmatic ecosystem. DataXu customers benefit from another layer of validation, and can be confident that they are buying authentic inventory from the sources intended by the publisher. Additionally, DataXu works with media exchange partners to ensure the highest levels of inventory quality and transaction efficiency. Inventory exchange partners that are certified in DataXu’s Validated Marketplace have met rigorous standards and have demonstrated their commitment toward an aligned ecosystem.

Initial members of the Validated Marketplace include Index Exchange and Google AdX.

“DataXu has consistently served as a leader in inventory quality, and this focus aligns well with Index Exchange’s commitment to brand safety and transparency,” said Will Doherty, Index Exchange’s VP of Business Development. “We’re excited to be recognized as a trusted member of DataXu’s Validated Inventory Marketplace as we continue to match premium publisher inventory with premium advertiser demand.”

"Google fully supports ads.txt and it's great to see partners like DataXu moving quickly to increase transparency in the digital supply chain. By implementing ads.txt into their Validated Inventory Marketplace solution, DataXu is helping to remove the financial incentive for bad actors to create and distribute counterfeit inventory," said Jay Vanderzee, Google’s Director of Programmatic Platform Sales.

“The problem of inventory authenticity in programmatic is real, and DataXu’s seller validation efforts demonstrate their commitment to cleaning up the programmatic ecosystem for the benefit of both publishers and advertisers,” said Jana Meron, Business Insider’s VP of Programmatic & Data Strategy.

The Validated Inventory Marketplace is available immediately to all DataXu customers at no additional charge.

About DataXu

DataXu's mission is to make marketing better using data science. The world's top brands and agencies use DataXu to better understand and engage customers across all devices and media formats. Its solution provides marketers with unparalleled Media Activation, Marketing Analytics and Data Management capabilities. With fourteen offices in nine countries, DataXu's full-stack solution is powering the marketing transformation of the world's most valuable brands.

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