Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the buzzing industry.
James Young - Magnite Managing Director - Australia
Time in current role/time at the company
Four and a half years
How would you describe what the company does?
Publishers and broadcasters use our technology to monetise their content across all screens and formats, including BVOD (OTT), display, and audio. In Australia we work with Seven, Nine, Ten, SBS, Foxtel, Spotify, REA, News Corp, SCA, Gumtree, eBay, Domain and others.
What do you do day-to-day?
No two days are the same. You might find me presenting new ideas to our partners, most recently working with Seven to ensure their programmatic monetisation of the Tokyo Olympics ran smoothly. Or I could be supporting my team as they deliver a frictionless connection between our buyers and sellers. I also get to work with our product team as they develop new concepts, such as Unified Decisioning. I’m privileged to have such variety every day.
Magnite recently acquired SpotX (SSP) and Springserve (ad server) - how’s that going?
Aside from making my workload exceptionally heavy over the last three months as we integrate the companies into Magnite, the additions have been very beneficial. With SpotX and SpringServe, we have greater scale with a broadened offering. It more than triples our dev team in CTV, giving us tremendous resources to support clients and accelerate technology development. Two-thirds of our global revenue will be concentrated in CTV and video which is the fastest-growing segment of the market.
Define your job in one word:
Dynamic
I got into adtech because:
I was a hotel manager but was keen to leave the industry because of the lousy hours. A friend of mine was working in AdOps at Fairfax and suggested I apply for a similar role. Fourteen years and five roles later, here I am.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Magnite works with all of Australia's broadcasters and major publishers and it’s my job each day to ensure we continue to support their evolving requirements. Our relationships are long standing so we have deep knowledge of their challenges and opportunities and I have to balance these and ensure my team is delivering the level of service our partners expect.
What’s the biggest industry misconception?
The programmatic industry is still often associated with low cost inventory or an erosion of value, but that’s not true. Programmatic actually delivers publishers an efficiency gain and the ability to take back control of their media assets so they get their fair share.
What are the key ingredients for success in adtech?
Patience, technology, a talented team and strong relationships. There are remarkably few adtechs in Australia who are willing to invest in these four elements and it’s to their detriment. Particularly in the world of programmatic, without these four elements it’s impossible to be a true partner - you’ll be consigned to being just a source of demand for customers.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours:
In the face of ambiguity, have confidence. Sometimes the path forward isn't clear but just keep pushing forward and if you’ve done the hard work you should be confident you’ve made the right choice.
If I wasn't doing this for a living,
I'd still be pouring beers for the youth of the upper north shore.
My mantra / philosophy is:
Life is too short for bad wine.
My favourite advert is:
In 1993, when YoGo was still considered an acceptable snack for kids, their marketing team went all out and made an amazing 90 second claymation ad with Nick Donkin at Flying Gerkin. Picture the movie Speed but with the YoGo Gorilla trying to stop a bus from detonating. It was (and is) epic.
What do you subscribe to?
Naturally I subscribe to all the usual streaming services for audio and video, but my most treasured subscription of all is with my favourite NZ vineyard - Wet Jacket.
In five years' time I'll be:
Deep in the weeds balancing life with my three girls (currently aged 5, 2 and about to be born). I’m sure I’ll be somewhere in the advertising ecosystem - hopefully still with Magnite.
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