Engine Introduces Industry’s First Transparent Marketplace Model on EMX Exchange

By MTS Staff Writer On Dec 20, 2018

Global Firm Is Strongly Positioned to Take on Transparency Issue and Reimagine Programmatic Industry

EngineGroup.com announced that EMXDigital.com, its programmatic media marketplace, is the industry’s first exchange to offer buyers a completely transparent pricing model, delivering confidence that 100 percent of their media budgets are allocated directly to publishers for targeted inventory. Engine’s EMX Transparent Marketplace (TMP) model is a first-of-its-kind step toward solving the long-standing problem of transparency in the programmatic industry. It offers buyers full upfront visibility into the cost of each transaction, allowing them to more efficiently identify and purchase quality inventory and secure better return on investment.

Until now, buyers have had limited visibility into the percentage of their media budgets being allocated toward the actual purchase of digital advertising inventory, with an unknown and often surprising sum surrendered to downstream ad tech partners and fees. In the new TMP model, EMX negotiates one transparent buy-side fee for each transaction, upfront with the buyer, to remove any ambiguity and provide insight into the true cost of media campaigns.

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“In the average transaction, you have myriad players, hand-offs, marketplaces and fees – all of which are completely opaque – making the value to both the brand and the publisher difficult to understand,” says Michael Zacharski, CEO of Engine Technology and EMX Digital. “Engine’s EMX Transparent Marketplace streamlines the programmatic marketplace to eliminate waste in the middle, while also making each step and the associated remuneration model fully transparent to agencies, brands and publishers.”

Engine’s EMX TMP model is a direct response to market need and the result of years of learning and development. To date, the industry’s transaction model has passed undisclosed costs on to buyers, but the next generation of programmatic advertising, lead by Zacharski and new Global CEO Kasha Cacy, brings together Engine’s scale and expertise to offer the market and their clients a more transparent and efficient solution.

“Transparency has become such a pervasive problem because very few players can see across the entire issue. Putting pressure on the agency and their trading desk to be more forthcoming about fees, or urging the publisher to reveal their incentive and compensation models, has been ineffective,” says Cacy. “Connecting our thinking enabled us to more deeply understand the pain points at every stage and then solve for each of those. The resulting solution will help our clients future proof and grow their businesses.”

Cacy’s vast experience in the media agency and brand space provided unique perspective on buy-side frustrations with the existing transaction model, as well as concerns about uncertainty and the future. With Zacharski’s deep expertise in the ad tech space and insights on programmatic business challenges, the pair are strongly positioned to lead the programmatic industry into the future – helping brands thrive in the midst of change.

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In July of this year, EngineGroup.com announced a restructure of its North American business model that united its data, insights, media and content businesses under one brand. A similar restructure is underway in the UK and Europe, already bringing all regions closer together. The new working model empowers the firm be more responsive to shifting needs in the global marketplace and help its clients around the world future proof their businesses.

EMXDigital.com launched in May 2018 as a new programmatic marketplace formed from the merger of bRealTime and Clearstream. It will continue to offer flexible buying options, including PMP, FullService and Programmatic Direct, across its entire publisher network. By creating a direct line between buyers and sellers, EMX connects demand and supply to increase efficiency, reduce ad tax and, ultimately, drive more value for partners and clients. More than 3,000 advertisers and 10,000 Ads.txt enabled publishers work with EMX, creating more than 20 billion daily consumer touch points.

With the introduction of the EMX TMP model, Engine is reimagining an industry where brands can feel confident and enjoy stronger performance. More transparency in this model is expected to benefit players across the ecosystem. Buyers can make smarter media-buying decisions with the confidence that their full spend is allocated to quality inventory, publishers can receive 100 percent of the revenue share and brands can see better return on investment as a result.