Audigent is in the incredible position of working with many of the top companies and thinkers in the programmatic ecosystem. As we continue to grow, we are launching a content initiative to celebrate our partners and bring insights to the industry.

For the inaugural edition of this series, we are highlighting one of our premium SSP partners, Sonobi, and spoke with Justin Kennedy, Sonobi's trusted COO.

1. Your tech is described as being “audience-first.” What did that mean when you started the company, and how has the definition evolved in the present day?

What we’ve seen is marketers are actively adopting a more narrow definition of who and what their “audience” is, and rightfully so. Most of the players in our industry have grown accustomed to seeing and evaluating audiences in terms of merely “scale.” For example, the old-school DMP cookie pools that competed strictly on how large they were. We’ve seen that overly simplistic view evolve into an unavoidable realization that quality over quantity is a better measuring stick as well as a superior long-term investment. Our “audience-first” technology has always been about presenting opportunities for both a marketer and consumer in order to facilitate a one-to-one conversation, and we’ve seen that concept gaining more traction over the last few years.

2. How are you approaching the trend of curation for your clients?

As more and more businesses struggle to adapt to a digital marketing ecosystem built around audience curation, Sonobi is proud to stand at the forefront of this irreversible trend. As stated in the previous answer, Sonobi has always focused on creating true, one-to-one conversations, in real-time, with audiences that are actively searching for the products and services presented to them. Companies that refuse to adapt to this new reality, as well as the partners they serve, will suffer greatly. The future of digital advertising is all about brands being shown to the right households, based on multiple demographic variables, at the right time, with the proper corresponding messaging. 

Another key element of curation is with our strategic data partners like Audigent. Data curation layered on top of media allows our Jetstream platform to be a more powerful and holistic curation tool.

3. Cookie deprecation is pushed back a year+. How is Sonobi prepared for the move when it finally comes, and how are you counseling advertisers and publishers on their plans and how to deal with the delay?

Founded in 2012, Sonobi’s “audience-first” focus has helped us to become a pioneer in digital advertising technology. Built around a powerful team of brilliant engineers and hyper-focused data experts, Sonobi has developed a hard-won reputation as one of the foremost leaders in the space today. Our office environment empowers employees to take their ideas, test them and then manage the resulting product or solution. Everyone has a voice. Everyone plays a part. The energy in our office is absolutely electric!

4. How have you cultivated a culture of innovation at Sonobi?

The biggest one I think is measurement and just a deeper understanding of the digital space. It’s so segmented right now which has led to an inability to understand, especially from the financial side of clients. Last-touch attribution has been dead for the majority of our clients for about two years now. 

I think 2023 will be the Year of Aggregation. You’re going to see a lot of audience aggregation between SSPs, like what Audigent’s doing, which is one of the most exciting things we’re focused on for next year, as well as inventory aggregation, in terms of the actual apps, so you’re seeing everything for, say Discovery and HBO Max be consolidated even though there are so many subsidiaries there. Same with Viacom, CBS and Pluto being consolidated into Paramount Plus, and the same with Peacock. I think that’s going to lead to a lot of simplification in the space, which will lead to a much better understanding of the space and a lot less complexity, which is an amazing thing for the individual brands, as well as the marketers and advertisers, because the less complex the space is, the less segmented it is, the more data that you can consolidate, the more data you can aggregate, the more data you can action on.

5. Your company turned 10 last year. What are three top highlights of the last 10 years, and what are three goals you have for the next 10?

Sonobi has done a lot that we’re proud of over the past 10 years, But if those accomplishments had to be narrowed down to just three, they would be:

1. Invented header bidding for premium publishers through proprietary "APEX" integration

2. Developed consumer-side addressable cookieless identity framework in 2016

3. Developed global deals product for supply-side media and data curation

Over the next 10 years, Sonobi’s main focus will be on:

1. Making content re-engagement through push notifications a standard tool for publishers

2. Continuing to be the best supply-side partner for our DSP clients

3. Partnering with publishers to navigate the rapid changes inherent to this ecosystem with the ultimate goal of enabling better connections of their media and data to the demand-side programmatically