Sizmek Revamps The Rocket Fuel DSP – But Does The World Need Another Buying Platform?

Finally, the AI developed by Rocket Fuel still exists in the revamped Sizmek DSP. The difference here is that ad buyers can decide how much budget they want being optimized by the AI, and reports delivered afterward will show what was delivered and in what way.

“In the former Rocket Fuel technology, it was more like you turned it on and used it, and the platform optimized everything on its own,” Jonuschies said.

Jonuschies has had a walkthrough of the new DSP, but he’s not tested it yet. He told AdExchanger that testing will commence in a few days.

“If it delivers the results that are promised, then it will become a strong DSP in the market,” he said. “And with the current acquisition in the market with DSPs, I think there’s also some space where they can sneak in.”

First, GroupM clients using the Sizmek ad server could be convinced to also use the DSP. Second, clients who haven’t embraced programmatic yet because they’re worried about the amount of work necessary to transition from an I/O model could be attracted to Sizmek’s streamlined UI and operational efficiencies.

While the US market is full of smart programmatic advertisers, Jonuschies indicated that there is more opportunity in EMEA, LATAM and APAC.

And Sizmek’s strategy is to work with agencies first, which isn’t a big surprise, given that CEO Mark Grether was co-founder of GroupM’s Xaxis unit.

“I have really strong relationships with all the agency CEOs,” Grether said. “I know them all really well. That’s helped us open the right doors and have strategic conversations. Nevertheless, we need to make sure we have conversations with every single trader to convince them of the benefits of our platform.”

Nevertheless, Sizmek still has steep hills to climb. Multiple sources have told AdExchanger that its parent company, the private equity firm Vector Capital, is looking to offload the ad tech company. (Grether deferred to Vector’s denial, when asked about the situation).

Having rebuilt its buying platform, Sizmek now must perform well in tests to convince agency holding companies to make it a preferred vendor, effectively siphoning ad spend from other major platforms such as MediaMath and The Trade Desk.

Bear in mind that the former Rocket Fuel CEO Randy Wootton spent his tenure trying to prove out the buying platform and strengthen relationships with the holding companies.

Now, under Grether, Sizmek seems to be doing the same with rebuilt tools.

And a revamp doesn’t always bring success. Two years ago, then-Sizmek CEO Neil Nguyen rebuilt the Sizmek stack to better compete against Google’s DoubleClick ad server.

But Grether had to rebuild that too.

“We had to rehabilitate the infrastructure,” he said.

Sizmek had to make the data easier to extract for reporting, although Grether said that was relatively easy, given his previous experience building tech at Xaxis.

This post was syndicated from Ad Exchanger.