• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, March 14, 2017

There’s a new ad exchange, and it’s not programmatic. The NYIAX (New York Interactive Advertising Exchange), launched on Tuesday, aims to change ad inventory into standardized securities. The NYIAX will run on the Nasdaq’s technology infrastructure and be platform-agnostic.

The NYIAX said it will enable publishers and advertisers to buy, sell, and retrade future premium advertising inventory as guaranteed contracts. In that way it is unlike programmatic tactics, like real-time bidding. The NYIAX said it is trying to create a marketplace to trade contracts and integrate with the existing ecosystem of ad planning, delivery and billing.  

“NYIAX is a trading platform that brings Wall Street to Madison Avenue through a Nasdaq-powered, seamless global exchange," stated NYIAX CEO Lou Severine. He said that enabling guaranteed digital media contract trading with efficiency and transparency, the NYIAX will help advertisers and publishers succeed. After the exchange achieves critical mass within digital, he said it hopes to support TV, print, radio and out-of-home media.

The NYIAX said it will offer media buyers a transparent and trusted market to secure and r-trade premium future advertising inventory. Publishers benefit from the capabilities it provides to help them increase revenue by growing sell-through, retaining higher CPMs and reducing fees. For advertisers, the exchange delivers a new way to discover and purchase inventory. Through greater transparency and forecasting, advertisers are also able to secure the premium inventory they need in advance.

A pilot program with several companies will be completed by late 2017. Those companies were not named. 

NYIAX’s leadership team includes:

--Carolina Abenante, co-founder, president and vice chairperson, who has held key positions at Reed Elsevier (now RELX Group) and United Online, Inc.

--Graham Mosley, co-founder and chief strategy officer, who was most recently the SVP of business development at Mojiva, Inc, which was acquired by PubMatic.

--Mark Grinbaum, co-founder and EVP of products and platform, who has held positions at ISE Inc. and Dow Jones.

--Lou Severine, CEO, who has led advertising businesses for more than 20 years and most recently was the chief revenue officer of Phluid Media, SVP of AOL Networks, and director of business development at Microsoft.

--Richard Bush, chief product and technology officer, who served as former general manager of publisher solutions at IPONWEB.

--Will Schmahl, chief revenue officer, who was VP of sales for AOL Platforms.

The leadership team is also supported by Thomas O’Neill, chairman of NYIAX and former Nasdaq board member, and Mediaocean CEO, Bill Wise.