Viant IPO (DSP): shares rise 90%

Viant Technology, the latest ad technology company to go public, saw its shares rise by more than 90% after launching its initial public offering on Wednesday.

Viant operates a demand-side advertising platform, or DSP, called Adelphic. It was priced at $ 25 per share, but opened at $ 44 and closed the day at $ 47.72. The company debuted on the Nasdaq under the symbol “DSP”.

It is the latest public entrant in a popular advertising technology market. The company’s IPO comes about two weeks after digital advertising company Taboola announced its intention to go public through a merger with ION Acquisition Corp, a special acquisition company (SPAC). In December, the sales advertising platform PubMatic also launched its IPO. And Kubient, another player, went public in August of last year.

A recent note from MKM Partners said ad-tech IPOs have had a mixed record in public markets, but that there has been a resurgence in recent times with PubMatic and Magnite receiving a “warm welcome” from investors. .

Viant was started by brothers Tim, Chris, and Russ Vanderhook in 1999. The company acquired social media company Myspace in 2011. Later that year, it helped start the connected TV platform Xumo, which was acquired by Comcast last year.

Time Inc. bought a 60% stake in Viant in 2016, which Meredith acquired through its own acquisition of Time in 2018. The founders of Viant took back control of the company in 2019.

The company, which has around 300 employees, competes with players like The Trade Desk and part of Google’s ad technology business. The software is used by marketers and their advertising agencies to centralize the buying, planning, and measurement of advertising across channels such as desktop, mobile, smart TV, audio streaming, and digital billboards, the company said in its S-1 filing before the IPO.

Chris Vanderhook, COO of Viant, said the company had a “terrific” year in 2019 before being hit by the wider Covid-related advertising slowdown last year.

“I would say the opportunity that lies ahead in the market is this programmatic opportunity,” he told CNBC on Wednesday. “It is growing very rapidly, over 20% per year. However, the total US advertising market today is about $ 200 billion. Only about 40% is bought by program or by software.”

Viant says its DSP is well positioned as a “people-based” platform, as opposed to a cookie-based platform, which uses personal data stored in your web browser. Google plans to drop support for third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by next year. Viant, on the contrary, says it uses “real world identifiers” to identify customers. For example, the company says it links information like email, name, address, and phone number to digital identifiers like a mobile ID or ad slot. This helps Viant target digital ads to the right audience.

CEO Tim Vanderhook added that while some DSPs focus squarely on buying, the company has built data and measurement capabilities into its software, making it “really sticky” with customers.

MKM Partners wrote in its recent memo that he believes the company’s focus on “people-centric marketing” and favorable winds in programmatic advertising and connected TV are “clearly positive in terms of sustainable investment ”.

But they also highlighted some risks, saying it had a “lumpy 2020”, with big annualized revenue declines and “a somewhat slow recovery.” They also noted the fragmented competition in the advertising space from companies like The Trade Desk and Google.

Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

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