MediaAlpha Extends Demand-Side Platform for Leads to Multiple Industry Verticals

Business Wire

MediaAlpha’s Programmatic Technology Brings the Lead Industry Out of the Stone Age

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MediaAlpha, the pioneer in programmatic platforms for vertical search media, is bringing the lead generation industry out of the Stone Age with the first and only real-time bidding (RTB) enabled Demand-Side Platform (DSP) for cost-per-lead media. MediaAlpha’s programmatic media buying platform, MediaAlpha for Advertisers, enables media buyers to buy leads in real-time on a self-service, automated basis, with full transparency and control. MediaAlpha’s platform was initially deployed to modernize lead buying in the auto insurance industry, and the company has now successfully expanded into health and life insurance, travel, personal finance, mortgage, and home services.

Lead generation is a $10 billion global industry and remains an essential customer acquisition channel for many industries. However, lead buying is still a highly manual process, conducted through dozens of opaque intermediaries, using a negotiated contract-based process that locks media buyers into fixed pricing and volume commitments. By contrast, programmatic buying is scaling rapidly in other online media channels such as display, video, keyword search, and mobile, with media buyers benefiting greatly from the full transparency and controls offered by real-time, self-service bidding platforms. MediaAlpha for Advertisers is the lead generation industry’s only programmatic solution that brings these efficiencies to lead buying to enable buyers to execute modern, data-driven marketing strategies to make smarter, more effective buying decisions at scale across all of their lead sources.

“MediaAlpha’s vision is to transform and modernize how media is transacted through technology-driven innovation,” said Steve Yi, CEO. “In many ways, lead buying is stuck in the Stone Age, constrained by an outdated model that presents real challenges for buyers. While we initially focused on modernizing auto insurance advertising, we have since discovered that these same fundamental buying problems exist across multiple industries. We are rapidly expanding into new verticals that suffer from market inefficiencies where our technology delivers unprecedented control and transparency to buyers so that they can buy exactly how they want.”

How MediaAlpha’s Platform Works

MediaAlpha for Advertisers gives buyers the flexibility to bid for leads on a real-time basis through the MediaAlpha Open Exchange, with an existing network of lead suppliers, or by creating an invitation-only Buyer Exchange that includes only those supply partners the buyer chooses. Buyers using MediaAlpha for Advertisers to manage their lead buying benefit from several unique features:

Self-service programmatic buying platform that provides full, real-time control over campaign management, audience targeting, and data-driven bidding strategies.
Algorithmic, real-time bidding capabilities to replace static, negotiated pricing and budget requirements.
Integrated platform to manage all lead buying, unlocking better cross-partner insights through comprehensive real-time reporting, and the ability to quickly execute buying strategies across all partners.
Data-driven audience targeting powered by first and third party data sets and support for dynamic propensity score and lifetime value-based bidding models.

The MediaAlpha for Advertisers platform dramatically increases lead buying efficiency by both eliminating labor-intensive, time-consuming operational activities associated with the traditional lead buying model as well as capitalizing on the transparency, granular buying controls, and data-driven bidding optimizations available through the platform, all of which enable greatly enhanced ROI from lead buying campaigns.

“Our technology platform is transforming multiple industries,” continued Yi. “It essentially breaks down the barriers to control, empowering buyers to make smarter decisions, optimize their performance, and streamline administration by eliminating buying inefficiencies. We’ve seen dramatic success with a broad spectrum of companies. We know this works and now it is time to bring a better way of buying to every company that buys leads.”

MediaAlpha’s expansion follows its second consecutive year with more than $100 million in annual revenue.

About MediaAlpha

MediaAlpha innovates at the intersection of programmatic media and vertical search, bringing transparency and efficiency to buyers and sellers. Vertical search media consists of pay-per-click, pay-per-call or pay-per-lead media delivered to high intent, vertically focused consumers at the bottom of the purchase funnel. MediaAlpha for Advertisers empowers buyers to more effectively target and engage high-intent consumers through a variety of touchpoints to increase campaign ROI. MediaAlpha for Publishers gives sellers full control over their inventory to optimize yield and maximize revenue. The company's proprietary technology powers over 25 million annual transactions totaling more than $200 million in annual transaction volume across insurance, travel, personal finance, education, and the home services sectors. For more information, visit www.mediaalpha.com.