Xaxis, the audience buying division of WPP’s GroupM media unit, has formally announced the launch of its Xaxis Premium programmatic buying product in Canada following previous launches in the U.S., U.K., Europe and Asia.
The product gives Canadian advertisers access to premium digital inventory, as well as preferred access to inventory available via the Canadian Premium Audience Exchange (CPAX) – a real-time bidding exchange comprised of inventory from CBC/Radio-Canada, Shaw Media, Rogers Media, Corus Entertainment, V, Télé-Québec, Astral Media and Cineplex Entertainment.
Rodney Perry, managing director of Xaxis’ Canadian operations, said the partnership means that Xaxis’ Canadian clients can now “consistently and reliably” access premium advertising inventory via CPAX, including both home pages and above-the-fold units.
“We’re only looking for above-the-fold inventory and very specific placements,” said Perry. “We do buy CPAX outside of Xaxis Premium as remnant or open-market inventory that we’re bidding for against everybody else.”
Xasis bills itself as the world’s largest audience buying company. It currently has a presence in 20 global markets, buying online audiences on behalf of its four GroupM agency partners: Maxus, MEC, MediaCom and Mindshare.
Perry launched Xaxis in Canada in May 2012 (Canadian audience buying was previously handled out of New York), and the division has grown from two to 15 people as advertisers continue to gravitate towards programmatic buying.
“They really have got behind this, because they’re seeing the results. Dollars are definitely moving into the space,” said Perry, who was previously vice-president of Canadian operations for CCAB and has also held both client and agency roles with HBC and Rogers as well as OMD Digital and GroupM’s MEC Interaction.
Xaxis Premium offers its advertising partners what Perry called “first look” at inventory across approximately 100 of the country’s premium digital destinations, including Maclean’s, ESPN, InStyle, HGTV, BBC Canada, National Geographic and CBC/Radio-Canada.
The Xaxis Premium product soft-launched in February, and is now being used by about half of the approximately 65 clients on the existing Xaxis’ roster in Canada, said Perry.
“It’s performing very well for us because clients like the inventory,” he said. “CPAX is making sure that the inventory they’re pushing into [the market] is of good quality, so when we put it on a plan it works very well for us.”
