Today marks a new chapter as we announce that Sharethrough & District M have entered a definitive agreement to merge the two companies and become one of the leading independent omnichannel ad exchanges.
Combined with District M, we become one of the largest global ad exchanges, with direct connections to all major DSPs and 40,000 publisher websites and apps.
To our customers and partners who have joined our team on this mission to bring more respect and care to the digital advertising ecosystem — thank you. This mission to build a more human-centric advertising platform has gone from an optimistic vision to a reality in these past years, and today's announcement brings a bigger team and more scale to the table. We are confident that as a combined company we can accelerate our roadmaps to move even faster towards that vision.
What does this mean for our clients and partners?
Publishers
- Access to new demand by leveraging District M’s partnerships
- New format support and monetization opportunities including more extensive banner and video products
- An expanded account service team
Advertisers/Agencies/Trading Desks
- All Sharethrough products will continue to be available both via DSPs and Managed Service
- More high quality scale across STX to reach your audience
- STX will continue to be available directly within every major DSP for all display, video and native campaigns
- A continued commitment to direct supply connections
- Innovative new tools to meet today’s challenges around SPO, identity, CTV, and more
- More channel and device support to reach your customers where they spend their time
DSPs
- New high-quality supply made available in STX with the addition of District M’s direct publishers
- Additional format opportunities, particularly in display and video
- Innovations in identity and other areas thanks to our expanded product and engineering team
Today we sent the following note to the Sharethrough team, and we’re sharing it below with our partners and customers in the spirit of openness.
____________________
Team,
Today we announced that Sharethrough & District M have entered a definitive agreement to merge. Together, Sharethrough + District M is a scaled, profitable ad exchange designed for long term sustainability and exciting growth.
There are surely a bunch of questions — “Why are we making this move? Why now? Why with District M? What’s the plan? What does this mean for me?”
I want to take a moment to share why I’m excited about the merger with District M and what it means to double the size of the company overnight!
Since founding Sharethrough nearly 12 years ago, we have been working to shift the advertising paradigm towards an ecosystem underpinned by respect and care.
We know that when ads are designed for comprehension, they perform better for everyone in the supply chain.
We believe that taking a human-centric approach to advertising and monetization is the key to a sustainable path forward for the independent and accessible internet.
We have been at the forefront of this movement for years. Today's announcement adds fuel to the fire and cements Sharethrough’s role in the continued development of this ecosystem.
What does this mean for the road ahead for the company?
- Continued growth of STX, which will serve as the backbone of the combined company.
- An expanded display advertising footprint that will allow us to bring our enhanced ads technology to more publishers and advertisers.
- Expansion into in-stream video including CTV and beyond
- A boatload of new supply. I'm very impressed with the publisher ecosystem that District M has built and I know our team and customers will be excited to bring them into STX.
- Expansion in the Canadian market — in addition to their strength in the US (90% of their revenue is US), District M is also one of the leading players in the Canadian ad market and positioned similarly to Sharethrough: a trusted technology partner to agencies and publishers helping to build technology for a better future.
- Investors that are active, engaged and excited about the growth and milestones ahead.
- Adding 70 more great people to the team! Integrating two teams will be a whirlwind, but what an incredible opportunity for us all to learn and grow.
Why are we doing this?
- Scale! Now more than ever, our industry demands scale — and rewards scale.
- As a combined company, we are in control of our own destiny. We are independent, well-capitalized and profitable.
And why now?
- Because our opportunity to break out and scale is now.
- Advertisers and agencies are redesigning their supply chains and choosing quality, trusted partners.
- Publishers are reprioritizing their monetization partners with an eye towards scale, uniqueness, and quality.
- Investors are again recognizing the immense value creation in the digital media industry and rewarding good companies with strong valuations and growth capital.
- The public market is finally celebrating the value of independent technology companies that work in concert with the Google/Facebook duopoly and provide competition that pushes the industry forward.
Why District M?
- Our values are aligned — Rob and I have spent a ton of time over the past few months working through hard things with the founders of District M. Through this, we’re confident that their company is built on similar values to Sharethrough.
- The people at District M are great — our teams have already been in the weeds working together in the lead-up to today’s announcement and I’ve been impressed with everyone I’ve met at District M.
- We have complementary businesses that can be unified into one, rather than operating two separate and parallel businesses under one holding company. This will help us with focus, clarity of mission, and continued execution.
What will change?
- New people! We’ll all be working together as one team. I know you’ll treat your new colleagues with respect and care. As a team, if we bring patience and long-term thinking we will succeed.
- I believe that you learn best by teaching, and everyone in this combined company will have something to teach, and something to learn.
- This is a moment to codify some of our own processes so that they can be effectively taught.
- This is a moment to deliberately do away with anything that’s been slowing us down.
Let me close by saying this — I am committed to this company and to you all; Rob is committed to this company and to you all; Curt is committed to this company and to you all, and today’s announcement only cements that further.
For 12 years, we have operated off of an unstated but clear principle: simply, to do the right thing.
We’ve made plenty of hard decisions in the past 12 years, and through all of them, we have done what we believe is the right thing — for the team, for our customers and partners, for our investors, and for the industry.
Merging Sharethrough with District M is the right thing for our business, and we hope you share our excitement and energy.
Onward!
Dan Greenberg
Cofounder & CEO, Sharethrough
Today marks a new chapter as we announce that Sharethrough & District M have entered a definitive agreement to merge the two companies and become one of the leading independent omnichannel ad exchanges.
Combined with District M, we become one of the largest global ad exchanges, with direct connections to all major DSPs and 40,000 publisher websites and apps.
To our customers and partners who have joined our team on this mission to bring more respect and care to the digital advertising ecosystem — thank you. This mission to build a more human-centric advertising platform has gone from an optimistic vision to a reality in these past years, and today's announcement brings a bigger team and more scale to the table. We are confident that as a combined company we can accelerate our roadmaps to move even faster towards that vision.
What does this mean for our clients and partners?
Publishers
- Access to new demand by leveraging District M’s partnerships
- New format support and monetization opportunities including more extensive banner and video products
- An expanded account service team
Advertisers/Agencies/Trading Desks
- All Sharethrough products will continue to be available both via DSPs and Managed Service
- More high quality scale across STX to reach your audience
- STX will continue to be available directly within every major DSP for all display, video and native campaigns
- A continued commitment to direct supply connections
- Innovative new tools to meet today’s challenges around SPO, identity, CTV, and more
- More channel and device support to reach your customers where they spend their time
DSPs
- New high-quality supply made available in STX with the addition of District M’s direct publishers
- Additional format opportunities, particularly in display and video
- Innovations in identity and other areas thanks to our expanded product and engineering team
Today we sent the following note to the Sharethrough team, and we’re sharing it below with our partners and customers in the spirit of openness.
____________________
Team,
Today we announced that Sharethrough & District M have entered a definitive agreement to merge. Together, Sharethrough + District M is a scaled, profitable ad exchange designed for long term sustainability and exciting growth.
There are surely a bunch of questions — “Why are we making this move? Why now? Why with District M? What’s the plan? What does this mean for me?”
I want to take a moment to share why I’m excited about the merger with District M and what it means to double the size of the company overnight!
Since founding Sharethrough nearly 12 years ago, we have been working to shift the advertising paradigm towards an ecosystem underpinned by respect and care.
We know that when ads are designed for comprehension, they perform better for everyone in the supply chain.
We believe that taking a human-centric approach to advertising and monetization is the key to a sustainable path forward for the independent and accessible internet.
We have been at the forefront of this movement for years. Today's announcement adds fuel to the fire and cements Sharethrough’s role in the continued development of this ecosystem.
What does this mean for the road ahead for the company?
- Continued growth of STX, which will serve as the backbone of the combined company.
- An expanded display advertising footprint that will allow us to bring our enhanced ads technology to more publishers and advertisers.
- Expansion into in-stream video including CTV and beyond
- A boatload of new supply. I'm very impressed with the publisher ecosystem that District M has built and I know our team and customers will be excited to bring them into STX.
- Expansion in the Canadian market — in addition to their strength in the US (90% of their revenue is US), District M is also one of the leading players in the Canadian ad market and positioned similarly to Sharethrough: a trusted technology partner to agencies and publishers helping to build technology for a better future.
- Investors that are active, engaged and excited about the growth and milestones ahead.
- Adding 70 more great people to the team! Integrating two teams will be a whirlwind, but what an incredible opportunity for us all to learn and grow.
Why are we doing this?
- Scale! Now more than ever, our industry demands scale — and rewards scale.
- As a combined company, we are in control of our own destiny. We are independent, well-capitalized and profitable.
And why now?
- Because our opportunity to break out and scale is now.
- Advertisers and agencies are redesigning their supply chains and choosing quality, trusted partners.
- Publishers are reprioritizing their monetization partners with an eye towards scale, uniqueness, and quality.
- Investors are again recognizing the immense value creation in the digital media industry and rewarding good companies with strong valuations and growth capital.
- The public market is finally celebrating the value of independent technology companies that work in concert with the Google/Facebook duopoly and provide competition that pushes the industry forward.
Why District M?
- Our values are aligned — Rob and I have spent a ton of time over the past few months working through hard things with the founders of District M. Through this, we’re confident that their company is built on similar values to Sharethrough.
- The people at District M are great — our teams have already been in the weeds working together in the lead-up to today’s announcement and I’ve been impressed with everyone I’ve met at District M.
- We have complementary businesses that can be unified into one, rather than operating two separate and parallel businesses under one holding company. This will help us with focus, clarity of mission, and continued execution.
What will change?
- New people! We’ll all be working together as one team. I know you’ll treat your new colleagues with respect and care. As a team, if we bring patience and long-term thinking we will succeed.
- I believe that you learn best by teaching, and everyone in this combined company will have something to teach, and something to learn.
- This is a moment to codify some of our own processes so that they can be effectively taught.
- This is a moment to deliberately do away with anything that’s been slowing us down.
Let me close by saying this — I am committed to this company and to you all; Rob is committed to this company and to you all; Curt is committed to this company and to you all, and today’s announcement only cements that further.
For 12 years, we have operated off of an unstated but clear principle: simply, to do the right thing.
We’ve made plenty of hard decisions in the past 12 years, and through all of them, we have done what we believe is the right thing — for the team, for our customers and partners, for our investors, and for the industry.
Merging Sharethrough with District M is the right thing for our business, and we hope you share our excitement and energy.
Onward!
Dan Greenberg
Cofounder & CEO, Sharethrough
Behind Headlines: 180 Seconds in Ad Tech is a short 3-minute podcast exploring the news in the digital advertising industry. Ad tech is a fast-growing industry with many updates happening daily. As it can be hard for most to keep up with the latest news, the Sharethrough team wanted to create an audio series compiling notable mentions each week.
Today marks a new chapter as we announce that Sharethrough & District M have entered a definitive agreement to merge the two companies and become one of the leading independent omnichannel ad exchanges.
Combined with District M, we become one of the largest global ad exchanges, with direct connections to all major DSPs and 40,000 publisher websites and apps.
To our customers and partners who have joined our team on this mission to bring more respect and care to the digital advertising ecosystem — thank you. This mission to build a more human-centric advertising platform has gone from an optimistic vision to a reality in these past years, and today's announcement brings a bigger team and more scale to the table. We are confident that as a combined company we can accelerate our roadmaps to move even faster towards that vision.
What does this mean for our clients and partners?
Publishers
- Access to new demand by leveraging District M’s partnerships
- New format support and monetization opportunities including more extensive banner and video products
- An expanded account service team
Advertisers/Agencies/Trading Desks
- All Sharethrough products will continue to be available both via DSPs and Managed Service
- More high quality scale across STX to reach your audience
- STX will continue to be available directly within every major DSP for all display, video and native campaigns
- A continued commitment to direct supply connections
- Innovative new tools to meet today’s challenges around SPO, identity, CTV, and more
- More channel and device support to reach your customers where they spend their time
DSPs
- New high-quality supply made available in STX with the addition of District M’s direct publishers
- Additional format opportunities, particularly in display and video
- Innovations in identity and other areas thanks to our expanded product and engineering team
Today we sent the following note to the Sharethrough team, and we’re sharing it below with our partners and customers in the spirit of openness.
____________________
Team,
Today we announced that Sharethrough & District M have entered a definitive agreement to merge. Together, Sharethrough + District M is a scaled, profitable ad exchange designed for long term sustainability and exciting growth.
There are surely a bunch of questions — “Why are we making this move? Why now? Why with District M? What’s the plan? What does this mean for me?”
I want to take a moment to share why I’m excited about the merger with District M and what it means to double the size of the company overnight!
Since founding Sharethrough nearly 12 years ago, we have been working to shift the advertising paradigm towards an ecosystem underpinned by respect and care.
We know that when ads are designed for comprehension, they perform better for everyone in the supply chain.
We believe that taking a human-centric approach to advertising and monetization is the key to a sustainable path forward for the independent and accessible internet.
We have been at the forefront of this movement for years. Today's announcement adds fuel to the fire and cements Sharethrough’s role in the continued development of this ecosystem.
What does this mean for the road ahead for the company?
- Continued growth of STX, which will serve as the backbone of the combined company.
- An expanded display advertising footprint that will allow us to bring our enhanced ads technology to more publishers and advertisers.
- Expansion into in-stream video including CTV and beyond
- A boatload of new supply. I'm very impressed with the publisher ecosystem that District M has built and I know our team and customers will be excited to bring them into STX.
- Expansion in the Canadian market — in addition to their strength in the US (90% of their revenue is US), District M is also one of the leading players in the Canadian ad market and positioned similarly to Sharethrough: a trusted technology partner to agencies and publishers helping to build technology for a better future.
- Investors that are active, engaged and excited about the growth and milestones ahead.
- Adding 70 more great people to the team! Integrating two teams will be a whirlwind, but what an incredible opportunity for us all to learn and grow.
Why are we doing this?
- Scale! Now more than ever, our industry demands scale — and rewards scale.
- As a combined company, we are in control of our own destiny. We are independent, well-capitalized and profitable.
And why now?
- Because our opportunity to break out and scale is now.
- Advertisers and agencies are redesigning their supply chains and choosing quality, trusted partners.
- Publishers are reprioritizing their monetization partners with an eye towards scale, uniqueness, and quality.
- Investors are again recognizing the immense value creation in the digital media industry and rewarding good companies with strong valuations and growth capital.
- The public market is finally celebrating the value of independent technology companies that work in concert with the Google/Facebook duopoly and provide competition that pushes the industry forward.
Why District M?
- Our values are aligned — Rob and I have spent a ton of time over the past few months working through hard things with the founders of District M. Through this, we’re confident that their company is built on similar values to Sharethrough.
- The people at District M are great — our teams have already been in the weeds working together in the lead-up to today’s announcement and I’ve been impressed with everyone I’ve met at District M.
- We have complementary businesses that can be unified into one, rather than operating two separate and parallel businesses under one holding company. This will help us with focus, clarity of mission, and continued execution.
What will change?
- New people! We’ll all be working together as one team. I know you’ll treat your new colleagues with respect and care. As a team, if we bring patience and long-term thinking we will succeed.
- I believe that you learn best by teaching, and everyone in this combined company will have something to teach, and something to learn.
- This is a moment to codify some of our own processes so that they can be effectively taught.
- This is a moment to deliberately do away with anything that’s been slowing us down.
Let me close by saying this — I am committed to this company and to you all; Rob is committed to this company and to you all; Curt is committed to this company and to you all, and today’s announcement only cements that further.
For 12 years, we have operated off of an unstated but clear principle: simply, to do the right thing.
We’ve made plenty of hard decisions in the past 12 years, and through all of them, we have done what we believe is the right thing — for the team, for our customers and partners, for our investors, and for the industry.
Merging Sharethrough with District M is the right thing for our business, and we hope you share our excitement and energy.
Onward!
Dan Greenberg
Cofounder & CEO, Sharethrough
Founded in 2015, Calibrate is a yearly conference for new engineering managers hosted by seasoned engineering managers. The experience level of the speakers ranges from newcomers all the way through senior engineering leaders with over twenty years of experience in the field. Each speaker is greatly concerned about the craft of engineering management. Organized and hosted by Sharethrough, it was conducted yearly in September, from 2015-2019 in San Francisco, California.
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