

LeanMarket (YC S12) brings real-time bidding display ads to the masses - garry
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/05/leanmarket-launch/

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chaseideas
Sounds like a cool new platform to check out!

I've contacted them about starting some campaigns for both myself and clients,
and looking forward to seeing how the system delivers on its promises.

Like kposehn said, if it is really that good I'll be moving a lot more of my
budget to it. Would really take a lot of the time and effort out of large-
scale media buying.

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kposehn
Interesting.

I'm wondering how this will differentiate from companies like SiteScout, which
provide the same basic service. If the optimization engine is just that good,
I'm definitely going to push more of my budget to it.

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CyrusL
It's true that the vast majority of demand-side platforms are bidding on the
same impressions, so the differentiation really comes from technology,
service, and usability. For example, the main component of building a campaign
on SiteScout is scrolling through a really long list of websites and entering
individual CPM bids. Between LeanMarket's slick category-targeting UI and
auto-optimization, I think we handle this process much more gracefully.

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kposehn
Ok, I'd love to give it a shot. Auto-optimization has always been a pain point
for me, especially with lower impression/higher EPC campaigns.

How soon will you be sending out invites?

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CyrusL
No real invite system, I'm just trying to make sure any advertiser's campaigns
seem like a good fit for RTB before I push them to test a campaign that
probably won't succeed. Can you please reach out through the contact form or
email first name @ company domain dot com? Thanks!

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aslewofmice
How's your mobile capability? Are you tied into any Mobile specific exchanges?
I'm guessing you're running your own ad server... is it performing well for
Mobile devices?

Judging the by the screenshots, it looks like a pretty clean interface. It
really surprises me how convoluted RTB UI's are when it's really not a
complicated workflow.

Great job, very impressive! There's a lot of potential in this space...

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mcarvin
broadening the base of marketing channels available to small biz guys like
myself is always welcome... kudos.

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zorked
Is there any way that a small ad buyer (a few hundred thousand dollars a
month) can participate in the auctions directly, bidding in real time rather
than going through a middleman that does the work for him (which is what
LeanMarket seems to do)?

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CyrusL
On the larger exchanges, not really. This would be like a retail investor
wanting access to NASDAQ or NYSE rather than Schwab or E-Trade. Some of the
3rd-tier exchanges may be exceptions.

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CyrusL
Oops, I just saw you said few hundred thousand. I read "a few hundred" at
first. Then yes, absolutely.

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slig
Such great domain name. Kudos!

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mcdowall
Slightly confusing to be to be honest, Lean.com as the domain (which most
likely cost a small fortune) but all the branding is LeanMarket. I'm sure they
have plans for more combined branding, but its a bit amiss for me.

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yaix
How is this different from AdWords?

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CyrusL
LeanMarket's value proposition is probably not very clear to anyone who isn't
familiar with real-time bidding. This Google whitepaper goes over the industry
at a high level:
[http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrust...](http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/doubleclick/pdfs/Google-
White-Paper-The-Arrival-of-Real-Time-Bidding-July-2011.pdf)

One core component of RTB is the separation of supply and demand. This is
different than the ad network model where a central hub connects the buyers
and sellers who all work with the network. This "central hub" approach is true
of AdWords; you can buy traffic from AdSense publishers through AdWords and no
one else.

Through LeanMarket, you can buy impressions from publishers who sell through
Google, Microsoft, Admeld, Rubicon, or PubMatic--none of whom LeanMarket has a
direct relationship with.

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omarchowdhury
And where do I signup?

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gcb
So you don't have to go thru "enterprise sales people" to get onboarded, does
that means the company can't afford ad review?

If they allow rich media for every one with 2cents, i can't think of a better
platform to distribute malware.

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corford
I wondered the same thing. Maybe just block Flash totally and only allow HTML5
for rich media stuff?

Other than that, I think it looks like a great idea (love the name) and could
have a decent chance of going somewhere (assuming enough small biz firms are
sophisticated enough to use it).

Edit: or maybe the plan is that the ad exchanges (e.g. Rubicon) do the
vetting, since they're in-between leanmarket and the publishers?

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calbear81
Haven't touched ad servers for a while but do most ad serving platforms
correctly track HTML 5 rich media? I know most of them are setup to correctly
hook into Flash (Actionscript) and be able to automatically catch plays,
replays, hovers, and other actions.

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corford
I'm out of date as well so I don't know. Hopefully someone more current can
enlighten us :)

