7 Apr 2017 10:00
RhythmOne Achieves #1 Ranking on Pixalate's Global Seller Trust Index
London, England and San Francisco, CA. - 7 April 2017 - RhythmOne plc (LSE AIM: RTHM, "1R" or "the Company") today announces that it ranked #1 internationally and #2 in the US on Pixalate's February 2017 Global Seller Trust Index™ (GSTI). Pixalate, a global data intelligence platform and real-time fraud protection provider, publishes the GSTI as an independent rating standard for programmatic advertising, measuring inventory quality across such criteria as viewability, reach, validity of traffic types and malware.
RhythmOne's unified programmatic platform, RhythmMax, has been the primary growth driver for the Company since its launch two years ago and has expanded exponentially in transaction volume during that time period. According to comScore, a leading cross-platform measurement company, RhythmOne ranks as the #5 Display Ad platform by volume in the US (February 2017) and #12 Media Network (April 2017) as measured by Quantcast, a prominent data-intelligence platform. This volume growth has been coupled with a deep commitment to verification and brand safety across its platform - fueled by RhythmGuard, the Company's proprietary brand safety technology.
RhythmGuard differs from other technologies in its approach to filtering of traffic prior to an ad request being made, and following impression delivery. Proprietary hardware and software technologies, combined with third-party verification mechanisms, are wrapped into each user session. A quality score is then generated by factoring in data such as: IP black and white lists, page content, spoofing data, and third-party partner feedback by publisher, domain, user ids and/or device ids. Internal predictive and machine-learning algorithms use near real-time data to analyze the likelihood of a given ad request being fraudulent, thereby determining valid traffic that can be passed to DSP partners. Following the bid from the DSP, RhythmGuard then performs additional checks in real-time to ensure that the user is a human, and that the domain has not been misrepresented post-bid. In addition, RhythmOne has the unique advantage of being able to leverage its owned-and-operated web properties and mobile apps to rapidly test machine-learning algorithms prior to being extended to the broader marketplace - improving the accuracy of RhythmGuard's filtering processes.
During the past six months, the Company made significant enhancements to improve inventory monitoring, and to speed up the predictive algorithms that analyze data in real-time - substantially decreasing the incidence of false positives and ensuring that only prequalified, verified traffic is passed to DSP partners. This combination of proprietary algorithms, machine-learning and third-party insight help RhythmGuard maintain the highest standards of brand safety and quality - ultimately benefiting advertisers through improved performance, engagement and ROI.
"Quality and transparency are among the most important issues in programmatic trading today, and Pixalate's Seller Trust Index is the only source for identifying the top ad-tech platform partners," said Jalal Nasir, CEO of Pixalate. "We use a rigorous methodology to identify and rank programmatic sellers in the ecosystem, and we're happy to see that RhythmOne takes quality and transparency seriously. Their top ranking on the International GSTI demonstrates their commitment to quality and innovation around detecting and eliminating ad fraud within the ecosystem."
"RhythmOne is committed to creating a supply ecosystem that is transparent and clean - something that is central to our goal of building the most efficient and effective marketplace for digital advertising and content distribution," said S. Brian Mukherjee, CEO of RhythmOne. "These top-tier, independent rankings are the result of dedication and vigilance by the RhythmOne programmatic team in maintaining the highest traffic quality, and continuously advancing our technology platform to stay on the cutting edge of brand safety as the industry evolves. As our unified programmatic platform grows, RhythmOne will continue to play a leadership role in defining and representing emerging ad quality standards and requirements."
The Pixalate Global Seller Trust Index is a monthly report based upon proprietary technology that analyzes more than 100 billion monthly impressions for ad performance and quality of inventory. Global quality ratings are derived from an analysis of numerous traffic quality indicators, including network score, reach score, masking score, invalid traffic types, ad viewability scores and malware - in compliance with recognized industry standards. To access a free copy of the Pixalate Global Seller Trust Index including the methodology, please visit: http://www.pixalate.com/sellertrustindex.
For further information, please contact:
Analyst and Investor ContactDan SlivjanovskiRhythmOne plc
Financial Media ContactsEdward Bridges / Roger NewbyFTI Consulting LLP(UK) 020 3727 1000
Nomad and Broker for RhythmOneNick Westlake (Nomad) / Lorna Tilbian / Toby AdcockNumis Securities Limited(UK) 020 7260 1000
About RhythmOne
RhythmOne is a technology-enabled digital media company that connects online audiences with brands through premium content across devices. Founded in 2004 in the UK, the Company pioneered Internet video search and works with digital advertisers, publishers and content providers to offer fully integrated, cross-screen solutions that span desktop and mobile video, rich media, display, social and native advertising, and content formats. Through its fully integrated programmatic platform, RhythmMax, the Company represents digital advertising inventory across owned, controlled and extended supply sources. The RhythmMax platform includes unique brand safety technology, RhythmGuard, which combines leading third-party verification and proprietary filtering technologies to ensure inventory quality in brand safe environments. RhythmOne's goal is to maximize the return on advertising spend and provide the most efficient and effective marketplace for digital advertising. The Company is headquartered in San Francisco, United States with offices in the US, UK and Canada. For more information, please visit www.rhythmone.com.
About PixalatePixalate, Inc. is a leading global intelligence platform and real-time fraud protection provider. Pixalate is a Media Rating Council accredited vendor for display ad viewability. For more information, please visit www.pixalate.com.