ContextWeb’s ADSDAQ Exchange Reaches Record Size and Scope
While Others See Business Stall, ADSDAQ Exchange Accelerates
NEW YORK (November 21, 2008) ContextWeb’s ADSDAQ Exchange, the largest independent ad exchange in the world, despite the recent economic downturn, has set records for trading volume and liquidity. ADSDAQ’s monthly unique visitors have jumped 44.5% in the past year from 74.8 million in October 2007 to a record high 113.3 million in October 2008, making the exchange the 21st largest ad supported property measured by comScore. ContextWeb’s reach as a percentage of entire U.S. internet population has jumped from 41.1% in October 2007 to 59.4% in October 2008, another all-time high.
Liquidity across the exchange for 2008 continues triple-digit growth vs 2007 and, in fact, September was the company’s largest liquidity month in history. As a result, the ADSDAQ Exchange, has been named 16th on Deloitte’s prestigious Technology Fast 50 Program for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences companies in the area by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP. Rankings are based on the percentage revenue growth over five years from 2003-2007. ContextWeb was ranked 17th on last year’s Technology Fast 50.
“This record growth, under any circumstances, would be gratifying,” says Anand Subramanian is the CEO of ContextWeb. “In light of the economic down turn that has impacted many online advertising businesses, seeing the ADSDAQ Exchange accelerate to record trading levels is a validation of our model that provides buyers with the scale and control they need to grow their businesses while also providing sellers with pricing control and access to hundreds of brand advertisers on a monthly basis. Looking toward 2009, we have already seen a 300% increase in brand budgets versus this time last year.”
A record high 8,000 sellers place their inventory on the ADSDAQ Exchange compared to 2,500 in October 2007 and ContextWeb’s new Reach Extension Program (which allows publishers to become buyers in order to purchase additional brand-safe content and audiences on the ADSDAQ Exchange) has grown to 20 buyers in less than 2 months after launch. The ADSDAQ Exchange’s number of monthly transactions has skyrocketed 275% in the past year from 1.6 billion in October 2007 to a record-setting 6 billion in October 2008. In another market-bucking trend, bid prices for exchange inventory have increased 25% over the past 12 months.
ContextWeb, Inc. (http://exchange.contextweb.com) was founded in 2000 and launched the ADSDAQ Exchange in 2005. It is the only online exchange where both buyers and sellers have complete control. The exchange’s patent-pending, page-level contextual technology offers buyers efficient pricing and extensive reach, making inventory on the exchange “brand-safe” and comparable to a site-specific or portal buy. The ADSDAQ Exchange ranks among the top 25 ad-supported properties, according to comScore Media Metrix, and reaches +113 million monthly unique visitors (October 2008). The exchange includes more than 400 buyers, including all of the top 10 marketing organizations, and more than 8,000 sellers. In 2008, Deloitte’s New York Region Technology Fast 50 recognized ContextWeb as the 16th fastest growing company in the New York area. The company’s investors include leading venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson (“DFJ”), DFJ Gotham Ventures, Updata Partners, Investor Growth Capital and Gold Hill Capital.