To empower local publishers in catering for premium inventory demand by international advertisers, Project Agora has partnered with likeminded regional media technology providers PlayAD, ShowHeroes, Video Intelligence and Viralize to launch Union, a new video platform for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
With a total of over 300 employees located in 34 cities, the five companies enjoy strategic relationships with thousands of local market websites across the EMEA region providing video content, monetization and technology to publishers.
Union aims to assist premium local content providers in accessing video ad spend from international brands who want to support local media at a time when their trusted content is needed more than ever by their readers.
At the same time, by offering a new source of quality supply, Union enables international advertisers to activate video campaigns on the local sites that really matter to their target audiences.
Available programmatically and as a managed solution, Union brings a unique blend of pre-roll and outstream video formats to market, providing advertisers with powerful contextual targeting on brand safe, trusted publishers and a total audience of nearly 300 million users. Union’s publisher partners include global brands such as Marie Claire, Elle, Vanity Fair and CNN, as well as leading local publishers such as Aller Media, Axel Springer, Stryia, Libero and Funke Media Group.
Steven Filler has been announced as Managing Director for Union and will lead the launch across EMEA. In over 20 years of experience in the digital industry, Steven has held major commercial roles across a range of leading companies including The Guardian and AOL and, upon his appointment, he said: “The current global crisis has highlighted the continued importance of local quality media in providing the truth and guidance to readers, so that they can be informed citizens. At the same time, advertisers demand more quality, brand safe video inventory and Union makes this possible through a single-entry point while also allowing brands to support the publishers that really matter to their local audiences.”
Odysseas Ntotsikas, founder of Project Agora, said: “The launch of the Union is further reinforcing and expanding the reach of Project Agora’s mission to Keep the Open Web Open. Local Publishers so far unable to attract advertising budgets from international advertisers and trading desks can now see an uplift in such revenues by working with Project Agora, Union’s founding partner in Central, SE Europe and MEA. For local advertisers looking to advertise out of their home market there is now a unique opportunity to see their brand in the top local sites of every European market that people trust for their news and entertainment”.
To find out more: https://bit.ly/2V8gWrX
About Union
Union is a joint venture between 5 leading EMEA video technology providers that enables global brands to activate video campaigns on the sites that really matter to their local audiences.
Union provides video content, monetisation and technology to thousands of local market websites across the EMEA region. These strategic partnerships generate a unique blend of pre-roll and outstream video formats for advertisers to target. This is achieved using a powerful combination of programmatic and contextual targeting to reach nearly 300 million users on relevant, premium, brand-safe publishers.
Union’s publisher partners include global brands such as Marie Claire, Elle, Vanity Fair and CNN, as well as leading local publishers such as Aller Media, Axel Springer, Stryia, Libero and Funke Media Group.
