Mindshare Backs Blockchain Advertising Alliance

An advertising alliance comprised of blockchain provider Zilliqa, Mindshare, Rubicon Project, MediaMath and Integral Ad Science emerged on Wednesday to address the difficulties in programmatic advertising by building a blockchain-enabled programmatic partnership, said CMO.

Programmatic advertising is a billion dollar industry that is defined as an automated model of selling, placing, buying, and optimizing digital advertising. However, Zilliza said only a fraction of advertising revenue actually goes to publishers, as a significant portion of the money spent by advertisers is lost through ad fraud by bots and intermediaries.

This scenario prompted Mindshare and Zilliqa to partner with Integral Ad Science, MediaMath, and Rubicon Project to develop the first programmatic advertising prototype called ‘Project Proton’, which seeks to transform the existing programmatic advertising ecosystem by providing a system for all stakeholders across the value chain to connect in a verifiable and secure platform using smart contracts on a high density throughput blockchain.

“The alliance includes multiple businesses in the programmatic advertising supply chain including advertisers, advertising agencies, Demand Side Platforms (DSPs), Supply Side Platforms (SSPs), Data Management Platforms (DMPs), trading desks, independent verification companies, and publishers," the report stated.

According to Zilliqua, Project Proton will address the sector’s challenges by exploring blockchain solutions in programmatic advertising through several phases. Initially, the project will take a look at automated settlement by focusing on viewability verification methods that would promote a business model where advertisers will be required to pay for ad impressions that are confirmed to be viewable, fraud-free, and brand safe.

"We are delighted and thankful to have MediaMath, IAS, Rubicon Project and Underscore CLT partner with us on this project with Zilliqa. There are many claims and speculations on the applicability of this technology to our business. Project Proton is designed to test this, particularly in the areas of building consensus and managing high throughput,” said Gowthaman Ragothaman, chief development officer of Mindshare AMENA.

A similar platform to harmonize online advertising was launched by Krypton Capital at the end of May to provide a full-service marketing agency to provide marketing strategy, digital media buying, ads campaign design and production, SMM and community management, bounty program, marketing automation, PR, influencer marketing, analytics, and KPIs services.