Sizmek’s dynamically assembled ad serving now includes audience segments from DMPs

Sizmek provides a Programmatic Creative ad-serving solution, where ads are assembled on the fly so that their design and content can be better tailored to specific audiences.

Today, the Austin, Texas-based company is launching a new Data Hub that integrates with data management platforms (DMPs) for the first time.

This means that Sizmek customers can now target these dynamically assembled ads by DMP-delivered audience segments, which can be enhanced by previous ad history.

A segment of users who have previously visited sports content or sites, for instance, might be shown a different ad from a maker of trucks if they’ve been previously served an ad from that manufacturer, possibly creating a story sequence of several ads. Both the DMP-based audience segment and the use of ad history are new to Sizmek. Here’s a screen shot showing the new Data Hub:

Before the Data Hub, Sizmek targeted its ads in three main ways. They could be targeted geographically; they could be targeted by topic, since Sizmek parsed the content of web pages where the ads appeared; and they could also be targeted by cookies deposited on the devices of visitors to advertisers’ websites.

For instance, the computer of a visitor to a web page about red sneakers on the site of shoe and clothing retailer Zappos would get a cookie indicating where she had visited.

When that visitor showed up on another website served by Sizmek, an ad for red sneakers — built on the fly — could be shown. Sizmek Product Marketing Manager Kelsey Meuse told me that her company is working on adding mobile device IDs to the mix.

Sizmek bills itself as the largest independent ad server, with over 42,000 advertisers, agencies, publishers and trading desks in its network.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.