[Startup Interview] Tom van Bentheim, Co-Founder, Opt Out Advertising, Netherlands

Opt Out Advertising is a startup that helps publishers, agencies and advertisers with the transition to cookieless advertising by offering a clean, privacy-friendly way of monetizing opt-out inventory in the online advertising industry.  The Co-founderTom van Bentheim elaborates.

Briefly introduce your startup

Opt out advertising is the go to Dutch online advertising partner for publishers, agencies and advertisers in the cookieless era.

We acknowledge the fact that online privacy is a fundamental right and publishers should respect that. Nevertheless, we want to offer our clients advertising solutions which are suited and relevant for their proposition.

Who are the founders of Opt out advertising and what are their professional backgrounds?

We started the business with the five of us: Tom van Bentheim, Linda Worp, Michael Hobbel, Rob Demmenie, Stefan Oude Wesselink

Tom, worked as Head of Digital at Ster, since May 2018 working on privacy friendly advertising solutions.

Linda, worked as digital product manager at Ster, since May 2018 working on privacy friendly advertising solutions. Prior to Ster working at a Media Agency as digital specialist.

Rob, former owner of Mininova and Adperium, later software engineer at Ster.

Stefan, adsales at Ster, previously worked in FMCG.

Michael worked for Ortec as software engineer since May 2018 working on privacy friendly advertising solutions.

How is Opt out advertising financed?

Bootstrapping

What are, in your opinion, the dynamics shaping the digital advertising industry?

In our opinion, the most important milestone that has impact on our industry is the phasing out of the third party cookie. Now that Google decided to delay the cookie-ban, many players in the industry still monetize online inventory the "old fashioned way", however, from our experience at Ster and Ortec, we know that there is another way to run effective campaigns for advertisers and publishers, and still respect the privacy of the consumers. Which means that Opt Out is future proof and paving the way for a new digital cookieless era.

Why did you start Opt out advertising? What opportunities did you see?

We have a firm belief that every publisher wants a privacy friendly browsing experience, however the industry was lacking a solution to do so without declining ad spent and losing grip on their potential Target Audience. With all e-privacy legislations and the growing trend concerning not willing to give consent for tracking purposes, this is the right moment to move forward with privacy friendly technology.

With this technology, we make sure that content stays available for all audiences. Also the growing numbers that don't want to share their personal information for advertising purposes.

We know from our previous experiences in the field, that online advertising can still be very relevant - and converting even better then before - without using any personal information. Hence our mission to make this technology available and affordable for all publishers and advertisers a like.

What problems does Opt out advertising solve?

We believe that the regulations concerning online privacy will even get more severe in the near future. This as of ongoing privacy and data discussions and consumers who are more and more aware of their online privacy rights. With our technology, publishers can monetize their cookieless inventory, while keep their current revenu streams in tact. Also gaining trust and transparency among their audiences.

See it as a hybrid construction. Cookieless inventory runs through our adserver, consent runs through the adserver that the publisher is currently using. This way all inventory can be efficiently monetized providing publishers with additional turnover and great campaign results.

When the opt-out percentage of users starts to grow as of the regulations and trends mentioned earlier, publishers that are using our technology are already future proof. Besides that, we help them to make their content even more relevant by using our own contextual engine. These combined will create incremental benefits across all publisher's funnels.

What can Opt out advertising do that no other company can?

A fully transparent adserver, that has a two year proven track record respecting the privacy of the user. Besides this, we have the know-how about monetizing cookieless inventory from our past experiences at Ster and Ortec. Within Opt Out we have the perfect synergy between local development, product and market knowledge combined with inhouse sales. Driven from our heritage at Ster and Ortec we are known in the Dutch market for being transparent and reliable.

Who are your customers?

Our clients are publishers, media agencies and advertisers. We help publishers setting up their technical infrastructure and monetizing their opt-out inventory. Next to this, we are a saleshouse for advertisers and agencies. Whereas they can either make a direct deal on our premium network, or use the DSP as a self-service platform that combines consent and no-consent inventory.

What does Opt out advertising need in order to grow?

Time, exposure and a little extra regulation of the privacy regulator

What is your growth strategy?

Practice what you preach by building successful cases with our publisher- and advertising partners. We have an increasing amount of publishers connected and campaigns running through our systems are showing great results. We are noticing a momentum in the market and are attracting lots of A - brands already. By building great cases and a proved track record, we will strive for effective organic growth. As a result of this, more Marketing /PR is being rolled out soon.

In which markets are you looking to establish your presence?

The primary focus is Europe - but who knows where we eventually end up. Opt Out US sounds pretty good right? In the end, our Tech solutions can potentially be used all over the world.

Hence, no publisher needs to force a visitor to give consent anymore. This as they can easily monetize all their inventory. Advertisers on the other hand can maximize their reach by using both (old and new) strategies.

And lastly consumers' privacy is respected at all times, which will gain positive PR for the branche and brand. A big win for everyone!

What are your plans for the coming 12 months?

Already off to a great start we will have a focus on incremental growth. We need to do more PR, more research, more sales and more cases as we notice the momentum is here. Educating advertisers and publishers about our proposition and possibilities. This in order to establish a solid network of (global) partners and generate market share.

www.optoutadvertising.com

 This is an entry for the Dutch Startup Competition 2021

Read about the Dutch Startup Competition and how to participate here