Programmatic ad exchange Singapore Media Exchange expands to include new media and marketplace partners

Singapore, 2 April 2019 - Singapore Media Exchange (SMX), the advertising exchange set up by media companies Singapore Press Holdings and Mediacorp, has signed up new partners as the coalition solidifies its position as the preferred programmatic platform in Southeast Asia to reach quality audiences at scale.

SMX, which started operations in May 2018, has welcomed on board seven new market-leading media publishers and marketplace owners. These are Viu in Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines; Carousell in Singapore; Mudah and Blaze Digital by Astro in Malaysia; Sanook and Kaidee in Thailand and GMA New Media in the Philippines (see Appendix for full list and description of partners).

This expansion will offer advertisers a one-stop selection of programmatic brand-safe options to reach top-quality audiences across Southeast Asia, including exclusive access to premium formats. SMX will also have more opportunities to combine its own first-party data with those of its partners, creating richer audience data for more precise and effective targeting.

To help promote programmatic adoption for SMX partner publishers across Southeast Asia, SMX has appointed Rahul Raj, a former Programmatic Director in the Dentsu Aegis Network, as its Programmatic Market Development Director. A veteran digital marketing professional with over 12 years’ experience leading digital media planning and execution, Mr Raj will also help SMX work with brands and agencies across Singapore to meet their programmatic demand and drive further adoption for premium programmatic as an above-the-line channel.

Mr Hari Shankar, Chief Executive Officer of SMX, said: “SMX was launched in early 2018 with the vision to provide premium, brand safe programmatic advertising at scale to brands. As we approach our first full year of operations, it gives me a lot of cheer in welcoming our new premium partners in Southeast Asia.  These regional partnerships I believe will propel SMX towards a strong regional offering that reinforces our ability to provide buyers with rich audiences, precision targeting and innovative ad formats while making the supply accessible with more buying options and across bidders."

“The founding shareholders are encouraged by the commercial momentum achieved by SMX in under a year of operations. Our recent coalition partners across Southeast Asia will bring new growth impetus as SMX scales up rapidly to meet advertisers’ increasing demand for premium programmatic inventory,” added Mr Roger Moy, Chair of SMX.

Ms Supatcha Mahathalaeng, Head of Yield Management and Ad Operations at Sanook, said: “With Sanook’s premium content &inventory, along with SMX’s industry-leading technology & platform, this is where quality advertising starts.”

Mr Chai Jia Jih, Senior Vice President, Business at Carousell, said: “As Singapore’s largest marketplace for buying and selling, we are excited to partner Singapore Media Exchange to offer our inventory. We have one of the largest and most engaged user bases in Singapore, and we look forward to working with SMX to deliver a premium programmatic ads marketplace for advertisers.”

Mr Tiwa York, Head Coach and CEO of Kaidee, said: “Kaidee partners with SMX to bring great quality advertising by leveraging SMX’s first class technology platform and Kaidee’s intent audience inventory.”

Ms. Helen Sou, Senior Vice President of Digital Media, PCCW Media Group, said: “Viu has grown from 16 million users in 2017 to 30 million users in 2018, with high levels of engagement. This partnership with SMX not only complements our common goal to attain greater engagement and impact with the digital audience in Asia, but also provides advertisers with a brand-safe, quality environment with our premium Asian content inventory that enables brands to reach highly-engaged audiences for more precise and effective targeting in today's digital marketplace.”

Mr Judd Gallares, Chief Operating Officer and President of GMA New Media Incorporated, said: "We are thrilled to work with SMX and see this as an opportunity to leverage the strength of media giants like Singapore Press Holdings and Mediacorp through SMX. The collaboration dovetails neatly with our goal of expanding the audience reach of GMA worldwide and thus build preference for the brand across various cultures and territories in ways that were not previously possible. It is a significant enabler not just for premium content providers like GMA but for advertisers as well since the synergies it creates will be instrumental to achieving our goals in terms of revenue targets, market penetration, and cost efficiency, among others.“

Mr Andy Yap, Vice President, Digital ADEX at Astro, said: “Blaze Digital represents some of the most premium and trusted media in Malaysia, including Astro and NuIdeaktiv's digital platforms, and a partner network of over 45 local publishers. We are delighted to be part of the SMX regional premium marketplace where they can leverage on our brand safe and curated audience segments for maximum relevance and reach of over 48 million digital users. We look forward to closer collaboration with SMX as we expand our footprint across Asia."

SMX now reaches over 4 out of 5 internet users in Singapore via some of the country’s most trusted sites with the widest reach. These sites provide advertisers with access to brand-safe, premium display, video and native inventory.

For media queries, please contact:

Hari Shankar
CEO, Singapore Media Exchange
Email: hari.shankar@smx.sg

Janice Ng
Corporate Marketing and Communications, Mediacorp
Tel. 6819 7466
Email: Janice.ng@mediacorp.com.sg

Debbie Tan
Manager, Corporate Communications & CSR
Tel: 6319 1586
Email: Debbiet@sph.com.sg

About Singapore Press Holdings Ltd

Incorporated in 1984, main board-listed Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH) is Asia's leading media organisation, engaging minds and enriching lives across multiple languages and platforms.

SPH's core business is publishing of newspapers, magazines and books in both print and digital editions. It also owns other digital products, online classifieds, radio stations and outdoor media.

On the property front, SPH owns 70% in a real estate investment trust called SPH REIT which comprises Paragon, a premier upscale retail mall and medical suite/office property in Orchard Road, The Clementi Mall, a mid-market suburban mall and The Rail Mall, a stretch of shopping and dining outlets along Upper Bukit Timah Road. SPH REIT also holds 85% equity stake in Figtree Grove, a freehold sub-regional shopping centre in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. SPH owns and operates The Seletar Mall. It is developing a new commercial cum residential site at Woodleigh. It also has a stake in Chinatown Point and acquired a portfolio of Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) in the United Kingdom.

It is in the aged care sector and owns Orange Valley, Singapore's largest private nursing home operator.

SPH runs a regional events arm and a chain of Buzz retail outlets. It also invested in the education business.

For more information, please visit www.sph.com.sg.

Facebook:  facebook.com/officialsph/

Twitter: @official_sph

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/singapore-press-holdings/

About Mediacorp

Mediacorp is Singapore’s largest content creator and transmedia platform, operating seven TV channels, 11 radio stations and multiple digital platforms including CNA, Singapore's most used news app, and Toggle, its digital video platform. Its mission is to engage, entertain and enrich audiences by harnessing the power of creativity.

Mediacorp pioneered the development of Singapore’s broadcasting industry, with radio broadcast in 1936 and television broadcast in 1963. Today, it reaches 99% of Singaporeans in four languages and has a growing Asian audience base through CNA as well as entertainment content that is distributed across markets in the region.

The Mediacorp Partner Network brings Mediacorp together with industry-leading brands like ESPN, Edipresse Media and 99.co to deliver rich content for consumers and effective solutions for advertisers.

Mediacorp is the recipient of industry accolades including New York Festivals, World Media Festivals, PromaxBDA (World and Asia) and Asian Academy Creative Awards.

For more information, please visit mediacorp.sg.

About Singapore Media Exchange

Singapore Media Exchange Pte Ltd is an advertising exchange established through a joint venture of the two local media giants in Singapore, Mediacorp and Singapore Press Holdings. Reaching 4 out of 5 digital consumers in Singapore every month, SMX offers a brand-safe, quality environment for advertisers to engage with their audiences. Its suite of programmatic solutions is designed to deliver greater audience engagement and impact. By pooling and harnessing rich first-party audience data across the leading news, business, entertainment and lifestyle properties of the alliance, SMX unlocks new targeting opportunities with greater precision and scale. As a trusted marketplace, SMX is the single gateway to a growing network of trusted premium publishers in Singapore.

About Sanook

Started in 1998 as a web portal, sanook.com has been offering Thais news stories that combine education with an equal dose of entertainment. Today, sanook! provides over 20 content categories that reflect the interests of its growing user-base. Users continue to give feedback that our speed and credibility is unprecedented in Thailand. sanook.com has never ceased developing itself while maintaining our quality standards. Additionally, Its sanook! app is available on both iOS and Android systems and updated in real time in all social media channels.

About Mudah

Mudah.my Sdn. Bhd. is Malaysia’s leading marketplace that offers a free and convenient platform for people to buy and sell, new and preloved goods just with a simple post of an ad. Launched in 2007, Mudah.my currently has over 50 categories from automobiles to electronics, home appliances to property, toys and collectibles to jobs and services. Everything Also Mudah.Mudah.my currently employs over 100 employees and is owned by the Telenor ASA (OTCMKTS: TELNY). Further information about Mudah.my can be found on: www.mudah.my.

About Carousell

Carousell is a classifieds marketplace that makes selling as easy as taking a photo, buying as simple as chatting. Launched in August 2012, Carousell began in Singapore and now has a presence in seven markets across Asia. With over 185 million listings, we are one of the world’s largest and fastest growing marketplaces in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and are backed by Rakuten Ventures, Sequoia India, 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures, DBS and EDBI. The Carousell marketplace has a diverse range of products across a variety of categories, including cars, lifestyle, gadgets and fashion accessories. Download the app for iOS or Android, and visit www.carousell.com for more information.

About Kaidee

Kaidee is the largest C2C marketplace in Thailand. Our core value is to connect buyers and sellers through simplest technology. We believe selling and buying first and second-hand items are good for Thais. We have more than 200 categories on our platform. In 2018, Kaidee.com had 1 million sellers, listing 8.7 million items, and reaching 30 million people in Thailand. Kaidee Top Visited Categories are: Cars, Motorcycle, Property, Mobile & Tablets, and Auto Parts. Kaidee is also available on both iOS and Android systems with 14.4 million downloads in 2018.

About Viu

Viu is a leading pan-regional over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service operated by PCCW Media Group. It is available in 17 markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar in Asia, the Middle East countries of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the newly launched South Africa.Operating with both an ad-supported tier and a premium subscription tier with more features, Viu delivers premium Asian content in different genres from top content providers with local language subtitles as well as original production series under the ‘Viu Original’ initiative. Viu offers users express delivery of telecast content, streaming and download features, and localized user interfaces. With the patented Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding technology, Viu can provide the best viewing experience regardless of device or network conditions.The service can be accessed via Viu app (available for free on App Store and Google Play) on connected devices, e.g. smartphones and tablets, as well as on web by logging into www.viu.com.

About GMA New Media, Inc.

GMA New Media, Inc. is GMA Network’s digital media and technology arm in charge of R&D, Software Design and Development, Systems Integration and Quality Assurance. Since its inception in July 2000, it has launched category-breaking projects in web, mobile, digital television and other new and emerging platforms. As GMA Network’s innovation center and future-proofing agent, GMA NMI spearheads the design and implementation of the media giant’s grand digital blueprint aimed to ensure the company’s leadership in the digital era.

About Blaze Digital

Blaze Digital was launched in 2017 and serves as Astro’s digital marketing arm. Offering integrated digital-first solutions for marketers, the Blaze Digital Network is comprised of over 25 of Astro’s digital brands, and more than 15 others through its partnerships with Nu Ideaktiv and local independent publishers. Leveraging on the extensive network and new technology, Blaze Digital helps brands get their messages across through content—across multiple languages—that resonates with an average of 48.4 million people every month.

Appendix: List of partners on Singapore Media Exchange