MONTREAL, May 9, 2024 – Optable, a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) data collaboration platform and clean room solution for the advertising ecosystem, today announced that Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder Bosko Milekic has joined IAB Tech Lab’s Board of Directors. The appointment is a testament to Optable's dedication to advancing innovation and privacy-centric solutions in response to growing concerns over data privacy from consumers, regulators, and industry stakeholders.
"As I step into my role on IAB Tech Lab's Board of Directors, I'm excited to be part of the community driving the future of digital advertising standards and protocols," said Bosko Milekic, CPO and Co-Founder, Optable. "Working alongside industry peers, I see an opportunity to shape solutions that prioritize privacy, transparency, and real-world effectiveness. I'm committed to bringing a human touch to our discussions, ensuring we create outcomes that benefit not just businesses, but people too. I look forward to collaborating, innovating, and building a future where digital advertising works better for everyone."
As a seasoned veteran with nearly two decades of experience in adtech, Milekic brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to IAB Tech Lab’s Board of Directors. The foundation of his expertise was laid early in his career as a systems developer in telecommunications and as a contributor to open-source operating systems and networking software.
In addition to Optable, Milekic is also known for co-founding AdGear, an adtech company that was later acquired by Samsung Electronics in 2016. After the acquisition, Milekic continued to make his mark on the industry by leading Samsung Advertising's product management and engineering teams through years of significant revenue growth.
As a member of IAB Tech Lab’s Rearc Addressability Working Group, Milekic played an instrumental role in developing the Open Private Join and Activation protocol (OPJA). His contributions were driven by the recognition of the crucial need for an interoperability standard for activating private audiences.
Milekic's commitment to supporting OPJA led to the development of secure activation mechanisms, including encrypted labels, and the integration of activation matching with partners. This dedication highlights Milekic's belief in the importance of developing open standards and active participation in advancing industry-wide initiatives, aligning with the industry's shift away from cookies towards standardized solutions that prioritize privacy.
"We're glad to have Bosko on our Board of Directors," said Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab. "His hands-on involvement in various IAB Tech Lab working groups speaks volumes about his dedication and passion for driving positive change in the industry. Bosko's expertise and genuine commitment to privacy and transparency bring a fresh perspective to our team, and we can't wait to see the impact of his contributions."
Milekic's journey to IAB Tech Lab’s Board of Directors is marked by a legacy of innovation and a steadfast commitment to advancing the digital advertising industry. Amidst escalating concerns over data privacy, Milekic's addition to IAB couldn't be more timely, bringing with him a wealth of experience and a forward-thinking approach to addressing pressing industry challenges.
For more information about Optable and its mission, please visit https://www.optable.co/.
Optable is a data collaboration and clean room solution designed for the advertising ecosystem in the age of privacy. The product was inspired by the radical transformation in how audience data is governed, connected, and activated. Optable takes an end-to-end approach to data collaboration and is integrated with ad delivery platforms for secure activation, making it possible to deploy campaigns directly from a clean room. It is the only clean room solution that offers frictionless collaboration and interoperability enabling customers to safely and securely match audience data with any partner. For more information, please visit: https://optable.co/
Established in 2014, the IAB Technology Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit consortium that engages a member community globally to develop foundational technology and standards that enable growth and trust in the digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers, ad technology firms, agencies, marketers, and other member companies, IAB Tech Lab focuses on solutions for brand safety and ad fraud; identity, data, and consumer privacy; ad experiences and measurement; and programmatic effectiveness. Its work includes the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, ads.txt anti-fraud specification, Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, VAST video specification, and Project Rearc initiative for privacy-centric addressability. Board members/companies are listed at https://iabtechlab.com/about-the-iab-tech-lab/tech-lab-leadership/. For more information, please visit https://iabtechlab.com.
MONTREAL, May 7, 2024 – Optable, a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) data management & collaboration platform for the advertising ecosystem, announced today its strategic partnership with Raptive, a company dedicated to powering creator independence. As part of this partnership, Raptive is now offering a comprehensive data collaboration solution to its advertising partners. This collaboration signifies a major step towards empowering publishers with comprehensive identity management and data collaboration capabilities, amid emerging privacy regulations and industry shifts such as the deprecation of third-party cookies.
Privacy has been a force of change in the media and advertising ecosystem, and with that change comes great opportunity. Many publishers are changing their strategy and retooling their organizations in order to adapt to this change. 2024 is a particularly significant year as Google proceeds with the deprecation of third-party cookies across Chrome. Comprehensive identity management & enrichment solutions are key to protecting revenue streams by helping to maintain and grow publishers' addressable footprint. Additionally, data collaboration has emerged as a way for publishers to increase revenues by working more closely with their advertising partners' data.
“The shifting web identity landscape poses both a threat and opportunity for media companies, driving the need for innovative solutions,” said Bosko Milekic, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Optable. “We’ve dedicated ourselves to empowering media companies to safely deliver advertisements to consumers amidst these challenges.”
The partnership between Optable and Raptive signifies a paradigm shift in how digital publishers approach monetization, particularly as traditional methods like third-party cookies become obsolete amidst heightened privacy concerns. Raptive, which powers the advertising businesses of over 5,000 websites, has emerged as a pioneer for cookieless advertising solutions, and the partnership with Optable continues in this direction.
"It's not just about adapting to changing consumer behavior; it's about fundamentally reimagining how media companies operate in the age of privacy," said Paul Bannister, Chief Strategy Officer of Raptive. "Our collaboration with Optable represents a key part of our move towards privacy-centric advertising solutions that safeguard user data while enabling continued revenue growth. Marketers can now leverage Raptive's comprehensive data collaboration solution, directly using their first-party data to reach their audiences across Raptive's hundreds of millions of monthly users."
Optable's identity management provides a foundation for revenue growth in the age of privacy, enabling media companies like Raptive to safely harness, enrich and activate audience data without compromising user privacy. This partnership exemplifies the industry's collective effort to embrace solutions that protect user privacy and support effective audience engagement in an increasingly complex digital ecosystem.
"Partnering with Raptive goes beyond navigating the changing landscape of digital publishing, and highlights the growing importance to help publishers respond to changes in privacy by building innovative advertising solutions.” concluded Milekic.
As media companies navigate new challenges they also unearth opportunities and partnerships like the one between Optable and Raptive serve as guiding examples toward a future where privacy, profitability and growth can coexist harmoniously.
Optable is a data collaboration and clean room solution designed for the advertising ecosystem in the age of privacy. The product was inspired by the radical transformation in how audience data is governed, connected, and activated. Optable takes an end-to-end approach to data collaboration and is integrated with ad delivery platforms for secure activation, making it possible to deploy campaigns directly from a clean room. It is the only clean room solution that offers frictionless collaboration and interoperability enabling customers to safely and securely match audience data with any partner. For more information, please visit: https://optable.co/
Raptive is a new kind of creator company on a mission to power creator independence. We provide revenue, audience, and business solutions, and much more for creators and enterprise publishers. Since the beginning of digital content creation, we've been leaders in ad management and digital advertising technology, and we continue to expand our services and solutions to match the needs of the 4,600+ creators and enterprise publishers we serve. To date, Raptive has paid out more than $2 billion to creators.
Michael Vaughan
813-210-1706
In a significant move towards scaling interoperable privacy-safe data collaboration, the Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation (PAIR) and IAB Tech Lab's Open Private Join & Activation (OPJA) are in the process of being merged into a single, unified industry standard: IAB Tech Lab PAIR. Both standards were designed with similar goals, you can learn more about the broader goals for developing OPJA here.
This merger enhances the open clean room activation standard originally created in OPJA and further advances interoperability within the ad ecosystem. Ultimately, a single consolidated and open clean room interoperability standard will make it much easier for advertisers and publishers to safely use first-party PII for audience activation in the era of privacy, even when they are using different clean room vendors.
The Optable team has played a leading role in developing the OPJA standard, contributing significantly to its design and development. Our efforts have focused on creating a Data Clean Room specification that supports scalable and secure collaboration, critical for marketing use cases that leverage first-party data while ensuring customer privacy.
DSPs play a key role in enabling industry-wide adoption of OPJA/PAIR as most advertisers looking to activate retargeting or other high-value first-party audiences store them within their DSP. However, adoption of advanced cryptography for these traditional ad tech platforms remains a challenge. The original OPJA proposal required DSPs to manage encryption keys and participate in decryption via a Hybrid Public Key Encryption (HPKE) process. Unfortunately, HPKE has not seen any adoption from legacy DSPs within this past year.
When compared to OPJA, a key improvement in the upcoming IAB Tech Lab version of the PAIR protocol is a simplified activation workflow for DSPs. PAIR will enable any integrating DSP to activate overlapping audiences matched in compatible clean rooms without requiring a substantial overhaul of existing segment targeting capabilities. Instead of OPJA’s encrypted labels, PAIR identifiers are hashed and encrypted IDs that publishers can regularly rotate and make available to DSP partners via the OpenRTB protocol's user.eids object. The list of matching PAIR IDs is sent to the DSP by the advertiser’s clean room, which enables the activation to happen with neither the advertiser nor their DSP being able to link which individual users are being targeted. An integrating DSP needs to add support for the new PAIR ID type, but does not need to perform any encryption or decryption operations, which we hope will greatly simplify and encourage DSP adoption.
In addition to simplified activation in DSPs the new PAIR protocol will continue to support both single and two-clean room protocols, which is a functionality initially introduced by OPJA. What this means is that clean room collaboration can actually take place across different clean room vendors which unlocks additional interoperability for both advertisers and publishers. This is important as both advertisers and publishers need to be able to safely activate audiences without having to change their chosen vendor.
We are actively collaborating with our colleagues at the IAB Tech Lab to finalize the open PAIR standard. Optable is committing to supporting the upgraded standard in our platform, and providing an out of the box solution to the leading publishers that we work with to accept and seamlessly activate PAIR matches from any advertiser, regardless of the clean room vendor they've selected.
Stay tuned for more exciting news on IAB Tech Lab PAIR in the near future!
We are thrilled to announce a pivotal moment in our journey at Optable. We are officially joining Prebid.org, aligning ourselves with an organization revered for propelling significant initiatives in the media and advertising industry. Privacy continues to bring major change to our industry and organizations like Prebid.org are on the forefront of pioneering new methods of privacy-safe advertising.
Prebid.org has been instrumental in setting the bar high for open-source advertising technology, ensuring transparency, and fostering an environment ripe for innovation. By joining Prebid.org, Optable is not just participating in these important initiatives; we are doubling down on our commitment to innovation and the development of cutting-edge solutions that address the evolving needs of advertisers and publishers alike.
Our collaboration with Prebid.org affirms our dedication to enhancing the ecosystem for everyone in the media and advertising industry. We are set to contribute to and benefit from Prebid.org's diverse initiatives, aiming to push the boundaries of what's possible in advertising technology as our landscape undergoes massive changes.
Bosko Milekic, our Chief Product Officer, expressed his enthusiasm about this new chapter, stating, "Joining Prebid.org is a significant milestone for Optable. It underscores our dedication to advancing the advertising industry through innovation and collaboration. We are eager to contribute to Prebid.org's initiatives and work together towards a future where technology creates more value and opportunities for advertisers and publishers. This is a step forward in our mission to make the digital ecosystem more efficient, transparent, and equitable."
We are excited to embark on this new journey with Prebid.org and to contribute to shaping the future of the advertising industry. Through this partnership, we reinforce our ongoing commitment to innovation, collaboration, and driving the industry forward. Stay tuned as we set the stage for groundbreaking advancements in the world of advertising.
MONTREAL, February 22, 2024 – Optable, a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) data collaboration platform and clean room solution for the advertising ecosystem, has been chosen by SJC Media, publisher of Canada's largest portfolio of media brands including Chatelaine and Maclean’s, as its data management and collaboration technology partner.
Optable’s platform will enable SJC Media to collect, manage, and activate data from its own audience for targeted advertising, while prioritizing user privacy. This move reflects SJC Media's commitment to adapting to evolving privacy standards in digital advertising, especially with the phase-out of third-party cookies. The future-proof technology supports the use of both first-party cookies and activation through the Privacy Sandbox, Google’s industry-wide initiative to improve privacy across the web.
"Putting privacy first, taking the lead in first-party data, and fostering agile collaboration are absolutely essential right now," said Vlad Stesin, Co-Founder and CSO at Optable. "Teaming up with SJC is a step forward in adopting the next generation of DMP technology, where we aim to lead the industry's progress in data protection, first-party insights, and secure data clean room collaboration. Our goal is to deliver top-notch, privacy-safe advertising solutions to equip SJC Media with the right tools to drive revenue growth."
The Optable DMP is at the heart of Optable's approach, putting privacy first in response to changing advertising trends. It's a crucial tool, not just addressing privacy concerns but also paving the way for media owners and publishers to improve by building sustainable revenue and delivering engaging content experiences. SJC Media’s decision to align with Optable's DMP technology was rooted in key criteria such as user privacy, holistic data management flexibility, and speed to insights and activation.
"We believe in putting privacy first, strengthening our roots in first-party data, and fostering genuine collaboration," said Michael Gagliano, Vice President, Audience & Commerce, SJC Media. "We were impressed with Optable’s impact in helping publishers harness the full power of their data while preserving the privacy of their readers. Through this new partnership, we're not just offering better advertising solutions – we're setting a new standard for responsible and effective advertising practices.”
Optable is leading the way in making the data clean room approach to collaboration easier and more efficient for the advertising ecosystem. The partnership between Optable and SJC Media represents the latest milestone in Optable’s mission to help media owners harness the power of the latest DMP technology.
The Optable DMP will be integrated into SJC Media advertising products starting this month.
Optable is a data collaboration and clean room solution designed for the advertising ecosystem in the age of privacy. The product was inspired by the radical transformation in how audience data is governed, connected, and activated. Optable takes an end-to-end approach to data collaboration and is integrated with ad delivery platforms for secure activation, making it possible to deploy campaigns directly from a clean room. It is the only clean room solution that offers frictionless collaboration and interoperability enabling customers to safely and securely match audience data with any partner. For more information, please visit: https://optable.co/
SJC Media is home to the most iconic portfolio of Canadian media brands, reaching millions
of readers nationwide through storytelling and commentary in a broad range of categories.
Marquee brands include Canadian Business, Chatelaine (English and French), FASHION, HELLO! Canada, Maclean’s, Today’s Parent and Toronto Life. SJC Media is a division of SJC, a dynamic full-service media & marketing company founded in 1956. Through full-production content and creative studios, advertising technology, print infrastructure and distinct media brands, SJC partners with clients across North America to meet their ever-evolving marketing needs. Visit stjoseph.com.
Optable
Michael Vaughan
813-210-1706, mvaughan@kcsa.com
SJC
Marta Tsimicalis, Director of Communications
MONTREAL, January 25, 2024 — Optable, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) data management & collaboration platform designed for the advertising ecosystem, announced today the commencement of its Early Access Program for its Privacy Sandbox activation capabilities. This marks an unprecedented step for a company synonymous with data collaboration, as it boldly integrates with the new Google API, becoming the go-to "easy button" for privacy-safe advertising.
"At Optable, our mission to enable growth through privacy-safe advertising products has led us to extend our data management and collaboration capabilities by deeply integrating with the Google Privacy Sandbox," said Bosko Milekic, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder, Optable. "Our customers require solutions that empower them to leverage both authenticated and anonymous user data in innovative, privacy-centric ways for audience-based planning, activation, and measurement. This integration fundamentally strengthens our platform and will redefine what people expect to get out of data management and collaboration platforms in the era of privacy."
The Optable Early Access Program empowers advertisers and agencies to construct and target audiences while preserving user privacy. This suite also facilitates the measurement of advertising effectiveness within a privacy-centric framework. Further, it offers publisher networks the ability to develop and launch privacy-safe advertising products, engaging user cohorts across owned, operated, and third-party media.
Seamlessly integrated with Optable's robust data management solution, Optable DMP, and its collaborative data clean room suite, Optable Collaborate, this development benefits key industry stakeholders:
“We’re encouraged by the industry’s continued efforts to test innovative solutions using the building blocks provided by the Privacy Sandbox,” said Victor Wong, Senior Director of Product Management, Privacy Sandbox, Google. “As we enter 2024, we look forward to working with all parts of the industry as more companies shift towards privacy-centric advertising solutions.”
For more information on Optable’s Privacy Sandbox Early Access Program please, visit https://www.optable.co/google-privacy-sandbox.
Optable is a data management & collaboration solution designed for the advertising ecosystem in the age of privacy. Optable makes it easy for advertisers and publishers to use their audience data to plan, activate and measure advertising campaigns while safeguarding individual identities. Designed for the business user, Optable eliminates friction in campaign workflows by allowing any partner to manage, share, analyze, and activate data within one integrated and interoperable cloud application. Optable customers reduce technology costs, increase operational and marketing efficiency, and grow revenue. The company is funded by Brightspark Ventures, Desjardins Capital, Hearst Ventures, and Deloitte Ventures. Optable is headquartered in Montreal, Canada with employees in multiple countries around the globe. For more information, please visit: https://optable.co/
Michael Vaughan
813-210-1706
MONTREAL, Dec. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Optable, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) data collaboration platform and clean room solution designed for the advertising industry, today announced its availability on Google Cloud Marketplace, providing customers with a simple way to safely and securely match audience data with any partner.
Google Cloud Marketplace lets users quickly deploy functional software packages that run on Google Cloud's infrastructure. Google Cloud Marketplace allows customers to easily start up a familiar software package with services like Compute Engine or Cloud Storage, with no manual configuration required.
"Bringing Optable to Google Cloud Marketplace will help customers quickly deploy, manage, and grow the data collaboration and clean room solution on Google Cloud's trusted, global infrastructure," said Dai Vu, Managing Director, Marketplace & ISV GTM Programs at Google Cloud. "Optable can now securely scale and support customers on their digital transformation journeys."
Founded by long-time collaborators Yves Poiré, Vlad Stesin, and Bosko Milekic, Optable was developed in response to significant changes introduced during the privacy era to managing, linking, and utilizing audience data. Optable deploys an interoperable approach to data collaboration and seamlessly integrates with ad delivery platforms, ensuring smooth collaboration and a safe and secure environment to match audience data.
"Privacy isn't just a checkbox; it's the cornerstone of ethical data collaboration," said Bosko Milekic, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder, Optable. "Optable's availability on Google Cloud Marketplace further extends our commitment to empowering businesses with the tools and technologies necessary to achieve safe and efficient handling of audience data. This ensures they can maximize their reach while maintaining ethical standards in data usage."
Google Cloud Marketplace users can view Optable's listing for more information or get in touch with Optable directly to find out more.
Optable is a data collaboration and clean room solution designed for the advertising ecosystem in the age of privacy. The product was inspired by the radical transformation in how audience data is governed, connected, and activated. Optable takes an end-to-end approach to data collaboration and is integrated with ad delivery platforms for secure activation, making it possible to deploy campaigns directly from a clean room. It is the only clean room solution that offers frictionless collaboration and interoperability enabling customers to safely and securely match audience data with any partner. For more information, please visit: https://optable.co/
Media contact:
Michael Vaughan
813-210-1706
mvaughan@kcsa.com
SOURCE Optable
MONTREAL, November 8, 2023 — Optable, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) data collaboration platform and clean room solution designed for the advertising industry, announced today that it has joined the software partner path of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN). The APN is a global community of AWS Partners that leverage programs, expertise, and resources to build, market, and sell customer offerings.
Optable empowers publishers with a comprehensive suite of innovative capabilities, including privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and data clean room solutions, that permit publishers to collaborate with advertisers and other partners without sharing personally identifiable information (PII) and other proprietary data. With Optable, publishers can enhance and better monetize their advertising offerings through data-driven approaches, and advertisers have a flexible way to leverage and compare first-party data in a privacy-safe manner.
“Optable is honored to join the AWS Partner Network,” said Vlad Stesin, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder, Optable. “Joining this network is a testament to the rigorous standards Optable meets every day for its clients and partners. Becoming an APN partner reinforces our commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions within the advertising industry.”
“From a data standpoint, AWS is a major player in the media and advertising space, and we now have the ability, directly through Optable, to execute on our full suite of insight-led, data-informed strategies with a truly interoperable solution. I think this is a huge step forward in the future of supporting data collaboration across the digital advertising landscape,” said Mike Nuzzo, SVP, Head of Data Solutions, Hearst Magazines.
As an APN member, Optable joins a global network of 100,000 partners from more than 150 countries working with AWS to provide innovative solutions, solve technical challenges, win deals, and deliver value to mutual customers.
For more information, please visit our APN partner page.
Optable is a data collaboration and clean room solution designed for the advertising landscape in the age of privacy. The product was inspired by the radical transformation in how audience data is governed, connected, and activated. Optable takes an end-to-end approach to data collaboration and is integrated with ad delivery platforms for secure activation, making it possible to deploy campaigns directly from a clean room. It is the only clean room solution that offers frictionless collaboration and interoperability enabling customers to safely and securely match audience data with any partner. For more information, please visit https://optable.co/.
Delta Sharing is an open protocol for secure data sharing, developed by Databricks. It has emerged as a leading solution in the market, enabling organisations to share data across different platforms securely. As a part of Databricks' Delta Lake experience, it serves as a cornerstone for data collaboration and interoperability.
Like Optable, the Delta Sharing Protocol aims to transform the way organisations think about and approach data collaboration. By emphasising secure and efficient data sharing, Delta Sharing lays a robust foundation for innovation.
Optable’s strategic integration of the Delta Sharing Protocol echoes what we believe to be the core concepts of secure and efficient data collaboration. It safeguards data by eliminating copies to third-party systems, amplifies collaboration efficiency through streamlined data sharing, and fortifies the pillars of interoperability, privacy, and compliance across the AdTech landscape.
At Optable, we envision a platform where organisations can collaborate safely, exchange insights, and create business growth by tapping into the wide array of data resources that many advertisers and publishers possess, all without compromising security, privacy, or legal integrity. By leveraging the Delta Sharing Protocol, Optable is enhancing data collaboration capabilities without sacrificing privacy.
No Data Replication: By leveraging the Delta Sharing Protocol, organisations who are platformed on Databricks can be assured that data is never copied to third-party or external systems. Instead, it's shared directly, maintaining the integrity and security of the original data. This is a significant shift from older practices where data was often copied to external systems, such as storage buckets, increasing the risk of data breaches.
Enhanced Collaboration: Optable's implementation of the Delta Sharing Protocol provides frictionless methods for advertisers and publishers to use their data for collaboration. Technologies like the Delta Sharing Protocol increase trust & mitigate risk by leveraging all of the security measures available in Databricks and Optable. Unlike the past, where stakeholders commonly relied on less secure methods like sharing files or CSVs, this protocol offers built-in encryption and access controls.
Practical Advantages: Beyond enhancing security and fostering an interoperable data collaboration ecosystem, this integration also tackles the 'unseen' frictions often encountered in data collaboration. For instance, it minimises file concatenation errors when merging multi-part file exports and reduces errors stemming from files modified outside of Databricks.
These practical benefits streamline daily operations and reduce the time spent troubleshooting, allowing teams to focus more on data-driven decision-making.
By integrating the Delta Sharing Protocol, Optable takes a deliberate step towards enhancing data collaboration.
This integration fosters interoperability with platforms like Databricks, which offers Delta Sharing as a native feature of their Delta Lake experience. It promises a more efficient utilisation of shared data resources and lays the groundwork for secure, integrated collaboration.