Canadian adtech company, MonetizeMore, comes to South Africa

Canadian-based, global ad-tech giant MonetizeMore has entered South Africa through a partnership with SiSebenza. The boutique investment advisory business scours the globe for innovative tech disruptors, partners with them locally and sets them up for success in the exciting and complex African market.

MonetizeMore is an ad optimisation business focused specifically on dramatically increasing the ad revenue of large traffic websites. It does this through programmatic advertising, i.e. the use of automated technology for digital (online) media buying. The company’s suite of Software as a Service (SAAS) solutions include its bespoke AdX and Header Bidding auction technology to serve ads to the right user at the right time and at the right price.

Spending on digital advertising worldwide amounted to 455 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 and is expected to surpass 645 billion dollars in 2024.

The company, originally founded in 2010, is now a Google Certified Publishing Partner which runs a virtual office of 210 employees globally, who work with more than 750 publishers in over 30 countries. It is considered one of the top ad-tech businesses in the world. In 2021, MonetizeMore was recognised by The Globe and Mail as one of Canada’s Top Growing Companies due to its three-year revenue growth rate of 108%, which has taken the company’s gross revenue to $83 million.

Its PubGuru reporting tool centralises client ad revenue sources into an intuitive dashboard that helps them stay on top of industry trends while at the same time uncovering ad revenue issues and opportunities down to the most granular detail. This ensures that every client is empowered with the most robust programmatic monetisation strategy.

The global increase in digital advertising also means a staggering increase in ad fraud, which is estimated to cost advertisers and brands $44 billion in 2022. MonetizeMore ad engineering teams, ensure that client’s ad revenue is protected by Traffic Cop, which through advanced machine learning and sophisticated fingerprinting algorithms, can identify and block ad fraud.  The application, designed by MonetizeMore, is the only fraud traffic suppression tool available specifically designed for ad tech; it won a Google Innovation Award in 2020.

“We’re excited about our partnership with SiSebenza in South Africa,” says Julio Monzon, President & COO of MonetizeMore. “We know that local understanding and relationships in new markets enable our access and growth exponentially. SiSebenza’s excellent track record of working with global disruptors in the local market gives us an important edge in bolstering ad revenues for digital publishers in South Africa and into the continent.”

Monzon says that emerging markets like South Africa are five to seven years behind the rest of the world in programmatic advertising. “Our technology can accelerate the monetisation of the online advertising value chain, which becomes an economic driver for local businesses and the South African economy.”

“If you’re hitting $1000 in ad revenue per month, you’re ready for a programmatic monetisation partner,” says Mmusi Maimane, who became a partner and shareholder in SiSebenza in January 2022.

Maimane says that MonetizeMore understands developing economies as well as developed ones.

“I’m excited to bring MonetizeMore to South Africa,” he says. “The team have been working in Latin America with unbelievable success, especially in Brazil, which is the sixth-largest advertising market in the world, accounting for over half of Latin America’s advertising spend. Some of their publishers there are reporting ad revenue increases of 300%. I’m looking forward to unlocking that kind of growth for local businesses.”

“SiSebenza works in partnership with successful and well-funded global organisations, including global unicorns,” says its founder, Andrew Robinson. “We bring disruptive technology and innovative businesses and opportunities to the exciting and complex African market and lead them in setting up local operations by connecting them to capital, infrastructure, local expertise and networks.”

Read more: New Economy Accelerator receives Canadian $500k

Featured image by Teemu Paananen on Unsplash