• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, October 10, 2012

The list of publications with their own private online ad exchanges continues to grow. This week The Wall Street Journal Digital Network announced that it has launched a branded, private ad exchange called WSJ Audex, with support from the Rubicon Project.
 
The invitation-only exchange allows advertisers and markets that make the cut to use real-time bidding for ad inventory on WSJ.com, as well as sister sites owned by Dow Jones, including MarketWatch.com, Barrons.com and SmartMoney.com.

The exchange offers a variety of detailed first-party audience data, including information on subscribers and registered users to help inform buying decisions.
 
Like most other private exchanges, WSJ has chosen several preferred partners on the buying side, including Cadreon, Proclivity and Vivaki’s Audience on Demand.
 
As noted, WSJ is just the latest in a series of publications to launch private ad exchanges, as publishers eschew ad networks that they say devalue their online ad inventory.

Most recently, in June Hearst Magazines unveiled its own private exchange, created with the help of Pubmatic, representing a portfolio of more than 25 digital brands, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Seventeen and Good Housekeeping.

In November 2011, Condé Nast unveiled a new private ad exchange created in collaboration with AdMeld, which also powers the exchange -- and in December, GateHouse Media, which owns hundreds of local daily and weekly newspapers around the country, launched a private exchange powered by Casale Media’s real-time bidding technology and management platform.

In February 2011, The New York Times Co., Gannett, Tribune and Hearst launched a joint, private exchange managed by a joint venture called QuadrantOne. Gannett’s USA Today separately launched its own ad exchange.