operaThe mobile ad platform, Opera Mediaworks, announced recently a new, unified end-to-end platform, servicing the entire advertising value chain, including advertisers, agencies, ad networks, DSPs (demand-side platforms), rich-media and video providers, SSPs (supply-side platforms) and publishers. This single platform also aligns under a single brand the various operating units -- AdMarvel, Mobile Theory, 4th Screen Advertising, Ltd., Opera Response, Handster and Hunt Mobile Ads -- and is designed to deliver more efficiency and better results for customers.

“We are leading the curve, in a rapidly consolidating mobile advertising industry,” says Mahi de Silva, CEO, Opera Mediaworks. “Our core growth has come from delivering technology innovation to remove friction in a highly-fragmented global mobile marketplace. Over the last year, we’ve been laser-focused on integrating our companies and offerings into a single platform to deliver a one-stop shop for our customers. We are also building new partnerships across the digital landscape to help us deliver even more value to our customers.”

A good example is illustrated in voice-activated advertising campaigns, delivered by Opera Mediaworks, using Nuance Communications’ technology. Mobile Theory, Opera Mediaworks’ brand-focused advertising network, was the first entity to bring this rich-media ad unit to the U.S. market, which was enabled by the broad adoption of the AdMarvel platform and its mobile advertising SDK that appears in over 80% of smartphones and tablets in the United States.

The power of one is greater than the sum of its parts

Without doubt, the integration of several point solutions into a single platform, delivers compounded efficiency and transparency to customers and the broader mobile advertising industry. Opera Mediaworks now combines the technologies and talents of several organizations to provide five core service offerings:

1) Mobile ad server and mediation - AdMarvel, the industry’s leading third-party mediation hub, provides the ability for publishers to deliver mobile advertising from media they sell directly or via ad campaigns acquired through more than 140 mobile-focused ad networks and DSPs around the world. This includes Opera Mediaworks’ premium and performance ad networks. Opera Mediaworks reaches over 500 million unique mobile consumers a month and manages over 65 billion ad impressions a month, across more than 14,000 mobile sites and applications.

2) The largest brand-focused mobile ad network in the world - Opera Mediaworks combines teams in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa, servicing 23 of the top 25 global brands.

3) A comprehensive mobile and affiliate network for performance and direct-response advertising - Opera Response, a service that provides real-time targeting and optimization of performance campaigns, helps advertisers generate quality leads, registrations, app downloads and sales.

4) A Mobile Advertising Exchange (OMAX 2.0) - The Opera Mediaworks Ad Exchange is a real-time-bidding (RTB) platform that brings advertisers, agency trading desks, DSPs, SSPs, publishers and app developers together into a public and private marketplace for mobile. This enables efficient and automated buying and selling of mobile advertising.

5) A Cooperative DMP (Data Management Platform) - Building on Opera Mediaworks' foundation for private DMP services for publishers, it now offers the industry's first cooperative DMP solution. Here, publishers can opt-in, consistent with their privacy policies, to share non-personally identifiable information about their consumers to improve ad targeting capabilities and drive better monetization. This helps publishers pool their data to provide better targeting and advertisers to more easily identify and reach their target consumer.

Synergies across Opera properties and traffic

Opera Mediaworks is delivering synergies across the Opera Software Group, bringing various teams together to deliver Smart Page, Opera Web Pass and the Opera Mobile Store. These synergies bring together a variety of advertising, payments and analytics capabilities to deliver a truly unique global marketplace to publishers that include Facebook, Google, VMMO, OLX and Naranya who deliver services to hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide.

A leading global beverage company is using this new platform to not only reach and engage consumers in a variety of global markets via traditional display advertising, but also leveraging Opera's Sponsored Web Pass product to sponsor bite-sized access to the mobile internet - via the Opera mobile browser. This is another example of Opera's ability to create a vibrant marketplace between advertisers, publishers, mobile operators and consumers.

As Opera Mediaworks moves into this new phase, it has launched a new branding campaign across major advertising publications including AdWeek, Digiday and Mediapost. Called the Big “O”, the campaign is designed to raise awareness of the leading mobile advertising platform offering industry-leading technology, creative services, campaign management and ad delivery capabilities with an integrated global account management and sales force.

Commenting on the new campaign, de Silva says, “We are powering the mobile ad economy. It’s a unique mix of art and technology: award-winning creative from our design teams and cutting-edge technology that focuses on removing inefficiency, creating transparency and driving optimization. Working collaboratively with our customers and partners, we believe we can have a meaningful impact in accelerating the growth of this industry.”

By MediaBUZZ