Romain Job, U.S General Manager, who has successfully launched Smart AdServer’s office in New York in 2014, was invited by Sabrina Quagliozzi, the host of the Grand Journal de New York. It’s a talk show, airing on BFM, the French Business channel, equivalent for Bloomberg TV, dealing with French start-ups looking to expand to the United States.
Here ‘s a recap in English of this show Ad Tech, a French start-up to the conquest of the U.S (in French):
Marché de la publicité en ligne: Smart Adserver… by BFMBUSINESS
What is Smart AdServer ‘s main activity?
Romain Job: Smart AdServer is an ad tech platform, enabling publishers to manage their digital advertising campaigns. We work with media publishers, such as Le Monde or Le Figaro for instance.
What are the main differences between French and U.S markets ?
Romain Job: I think French and U.S. markets mainly differ in size: the U.S. market is huge whereas theEuropean market is fragmented. The French market is small, with high competitive pressure and with such constraints that make product and cost optimizations among top priorities of French Start-ups.
In U.S. it’s mainly about scale and rapid growth in a huge market. Thus, U.S start-ups won’t consistently be concerned about optimizations that French start-ups are familiar with. It ‘s a real opportunity for French start-ups.
Are there a lot of competitors in your segment?
Romain Job: Yes, our segment is a small market. Even if there are tremendous entry barriers , the competition is fierce with the presence of top global players (Google, AOL), that have bought-off most of our ad tech competitors.
How does Smart AdServer manages to compete with companies such as Google and Facebook?
Romain Job: I joined the company in 2007, the year (when) Google bought Doubleclick, and since I joined, we have gained market share in Germany and in other countries, to Doucleclick. Each month, we win customers over Google, we take clients form Google.
How do you explain this? Is Smart Adserver approach different from Google?
Romain Job: I think our positioning is very different from Google. Google, along with main other actors, is not really concerned by the quality service approach, which has strong added value. Our approach is completely different, we at Smart AdServer, works hand in hand with our customers. We are able to lead them, and give them control over their strategy whereas Google position itself as an intermediary, looking to get control of media.
How many customers does Smart AdServer have?
Romain Job: Smart AdServer as roughly 40 customers in U.S so far. Our next milestone is to double the U.S turnover and reach 100 customers in 2015. One the main challenge we are meeting is job staffing and hiring people with the right ad tech expertise.
Several job positions are open at Smart AdServer, in New York along as, in all our offices. Have a look at our new Job portal
