Sharethrough, the adtech company that allows customers to sell “native” advertising that appears in the stream or feed of their content, has big plans for 2015: It is targeting an annual revenue of $100 million and the launch this month of a platform that will allow advertisers to buy native ads at the same scale they currently buy banners and videos.
It’s likely you’ve seen a Sharethrough ad today already. The company works with more than 400 publishers — including Forbes, Time Inc, and Hearst — as a SSP (supply-side-platform) to help them place native advertising on their websites. The ads follow the same style guideline as each publisher’s content, but display that the author is a brand advertiser, or include text stating that the article, post, or video has been sponsored.
Founded seven years ago, the company has raised $38 million in funding to date. Telecommunications and broadcaster BSkyB — also the UK’s biggest advertiser — was one of the investors in its last round. It was a signal the idea of “native advertising” was moving from the idea of “newspaper advertorials on the web” into a formidable media in its own right.
Dan Greenberg, Sharethrough co-founder and CEO, told Business Insider that he sees only a few big players in this space: Facebook, Yahoo (with its Gemini proposition), Twitter, and Sharethrough. He doesn’t foresee one of his native ad rivals acquiring Sharethrough, though: “If there is consolidation, I hope we do the consolidation: Consolidation for the independent companies that power the open web.”
