The Washington Post launches digital ad network
The Washington Post has this week debuted Zeus Prime, a premium ad-buying network that connects brands and US publishers in a real-time marketplace. The platform provides a self-service interface that allows brands and agencies to quickly purchase and place ads across national, regional, and local publisher sites.
It’s a launch that has been touted for two years now, with the news finally being broken by Axios yesterday. In creating the platform, The Post has taken a big step on behalf of the entire industry in terms of bringing the ease and efficiency with which brands have traditionally been able to book ads via Facebook and Google, to the premium publisher environment.
With Zeus Prime, brands can immediately react to news moments and launch campaigns in environments that people turn to for reliable information, leveraging existing social creative for delivery across a national network of trusted publishers.
“If there’s anything we’ve learned over the last year, it’s that tone and message are as essential as placement in connecting with a desired audience. That insight is the foundation for Zeus Prime,” Joy Robbins, Chief Revenue Officer for The Washington Post, said on the company website. “Our focus is to build a results-driven solution for the digital ad landscape, and we’re thrilled to first work with select established partners, creating a high-quality environment centred around speed, ease and smart targeting.”
“At The Post, we believe in the value and impact innovative technology like Zeus can have on the industry,” added Shailesh Prakash, Chief Information Officer at The Post. “Zeus, which grew out of solving for our own challenges and needs, greatly amplifies the publisher point of view and proves that you don’t have to choose between ad revenue and a great user experience. Zeus Prime opens up a first-of-its-kind, self-service marketplace that will accelerate monetization gains for publishers while giving brands a seamless way to extend their reach and message.”
Advertisers can select sites to run an ad on, split the budget, see available impressions for each site, upload and preview creative on each site, modify the text or image in an ad, and pay for the campaign via credit card or invoice. In addition, users can segment performance data by types such as device and site to better inform the brand campaign strategy.
At launch, Zeus Prime will be available for early access to supply- and demand-side partners including The Dallas Morning News and the Ad Council. More participating partners, including Graham Media Group, will be added in the coming months.
