Chris and Tim Vanderhook, COO and CEO of Viant.
giant
Viant Technology, the latest advertising technology company, saw shares rise more than 90% after the company launched its initial public offering on Wednesday.
Viant operates an on-demand advertising platform, or DSP, called Adelphic. It was priced at $ 25 per share, but opened at $ 44 and closed the day at $ 47.72. The company debuted on the Nasdaq with the “DSP” symbol.
It is the latest public participant in today’s advertising technology market. The company’s IPO comes about two weeks after digital ad company Taboola said it planned to go public through a merger with ION Acquisition Corp, a special acquisition corporation (SPAC). In December, the sales advertising platform PubMatic also launched its IPO. And Kubient, another player, went public in August last year.
In a recent note from MKM Partners, it was said that advertising technology IPOs had a mixed history in public markets, but that there has been a resurgence lately, as PubMatic and Magnite received a “warm welcome” from investors.
Viant was launched by brothers Tim, Chris and Russ Vanderhook in 1999. The company acquired the social networking company Myspace in 2011. Later that year it helped launch the connected TV platform Xumo, which was acquired by Comcast last year.
Time Inc. bought a 60% stake in Viant in 2016, which Meredith acquired through its own acquisition of Time in 2018. Viant’s founders regained control of the company in 2019.
The company, which has about 300 employees, competes with players like The Trade Desk and part of Google’s advertising technology business. The software is used by marketers and their advertising agencies to centralize the purchase, planning and measurement of advertising through channels such as computers, mobile phones, connected TV, audio streaming and digital boards, the company said in its S-1 presentation before the IPO.
Chris Vanderhook, Viant’s COO, said the company had a “tremendous” year in 2019 before being hit by the wider Covid-related ad slowdown last year.
“I would say the opportunity we have in the market is this programmatic opportunity,” he told CNBC in an interview Wednesday. “It’s growing very fast, more than 20% a year. However, the total U.S. advertising market is currently about $ 200 billion. Only about 40% is purchased programmatically or through software.” .
Viant says its DSP is well positioned as a “people-based” platform, as opposed to a cookie-based platform, which uses personal data stored in the web browser. Google plans to take advantage of its support for third-party cookies in its Chrome browser next year. Viant, on the other hand, says he uses “real-world identifiers” to identify customers. For example, the company says it links information such as email, name, address, and phone number with digital identifiers, such as an ID or a mobile advertising location. This helps Viant target digital ads to the right audience.
CEO Tim Vanderhook added that while some DSPs focus entirely on purchasing, the company has integrated measurement and data features into its software, making it “really sticky” with customers.
MKM Partners wrote in its recent note that it considers the company’s focus on “people-based marketing” and the winds of programmatic advertising and connected television to be “clear positives of sustainable investment.”
But they also pointed to some risks, saying it had a “bumpy 2020,” with significant annual revenue falls and “some slow recovery.” They also pointed to fragmented competition in the advertising technology space of companies such as The Trade Desk and Google.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
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