Announcing Opera Select, the first premium mobile exchange

In 2012, we introduced OMAX, the Opera Mediaworks Ad Exchange, a real-time marketplace for efficient, automated buying and selling of mobile media.

Since then, we have facilitated programmatic access to key demand partners, delivering impressions in an automated way to over 18,000 mobile sites and apps – driving better monetization for mobile publishers through scale and operational efficiencies.

Advertisers, too, have benefited from the increased access, speed and efficiency of the RTB open auction model.

In the larger landscape, programmatic also took center stage. In nearly every marketers’ guide to 2014 trends, programmatic was a key topic. Panels about programmatic buying at mobile conferences were often standing room only, and nearly every day there was a story in the trade media about it. Just this week, the IAB published a Mobile Programmatic Playbook.

But if there is one constant in mobile, it’s change.

In the past year, we’ve seen a giant shift in the programmatic space – and that shift is toward private marketplaces and programmatic direct, where the massive, open exchange is narrowed down to a smaller subset of buyers and sellers to create a premium environment that is perfect for brand advertisers and publishers.

That is what we are announcing today: a private marketplace to connect the buyers and sellers who work with Opera Mediaworks.

Opera Select

The best media companies in the world already monetize their mobile properties through our platform, so the stage is set for a premium environment. It’s a curated mobile marketplace where advertisers will know their premium brands will appear alongside premium content. Their messages will be delivered to the right audience, allowing them to combine their own targeting capabilities with the ones we offer, and they will have access to highly valuable early session impressions, for maximum campaign efficiency.

Publishers already use the platform to set up their own private exchanges with agencies and brands. Opera Select adds an additional layer of connection to premium demand, managed by Opera Mediaworks. The end result is a comprehensive waterfall, enabling us to monetize publisher inventory better than ever before.

Opera Mediaworks is committed to providing the best mobile platform for brands, whether that means an advertiser or a publisher brand. As the mobile ecosystem moves toward an increasingly programmatic future, we are excited about the ways Opera Select supports that mission. The ability to run the highest-quality, rich media display ads on the highest-quality sites and apps is an important first step, but it’s just the start. Look for more information later this year about programmatic for video and native advertising.

To learn more about Opera Select, contact us at select@opera.com.