PubMatic to Hire 100 to Meet Demand For Private Ad Exchanges

PubMatic, an ad technology company which caters to publishers, is planning to hire an additional 100 people before the end of the year to meet growing demand for so-called private ad exchanges. Private exchanges allow publishers to offer their inventory on an auction basis to advertisers without mixing it with inventory from other publishers in public exchanges like Google's AdX, Yahoo's Right Media or AppNexus. Once thought of as somewhat of a failed experiment, private ad exchanges are undergoing a revival. Programmatic spending is expected to increase nearly 74% this year, according to eMarketer, and publishers are trying to capture chunks of that growing pie by packaging programmatic buys with ads they sell to advertisers directly. Last month, for instance, News Corp. set up its own private exchange, deeming it the best way to meet the growing demand for automated buying while not cannibalizing its premium inventory. "As direct sales become more and more transacted through real time bidding and audience targeting methods demanded by advertisers, publishers are moving more and more of their inventory into our platforms." said Rajeev Goel, co-founder and CEO of PubMatic in an interview with Ad Age. To keep up with the demand, PubMatic is expanding its current staff of 350 by nearly a third. The company will also open four new offices, and set up three new data centers. In all, the total investment will reach $10 million dollars. According to Mr. Goel, PubMatic, founded in 2006, is using funds generated by its business to finance the growth. The company, he said, has seen sales of private exchange inventory jump from 1% of its business at the beginning of the year to 10% today. Mr. Goel would not say whether or not the company is profitable. PubMatic has raised a total of $63 million since it was founded in 2006. For ad-tech companies, a spike in sales and marketing spending, which Mr. Goel said will make up half the additional headcount, can often precede a filing to go public. When asked if PubMatic is itself preparing to IPO, Mr. Goel did not shy away from the notion. "We feel, looking at some of the recent IPOs, that we would fare favorably in an IPO scenario," he said. "We haven't made any decision at this time of when we might do that and what the specific timing of that would be."

PubMatic to Hire 100 to Meet Demand For Private Ad Exchanges

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