Arguably no category is hotter right now for audience measurement and targeting than demand side platforms. DataXu, one of the leaders in real-time bidding is taking advantage of that momentum with a new audience optimization offering.

According to DataXu CEO Mike Baker, the new product brings scalability to campaigns that are executed against smaller audience targets. DataXu blends proprietary data with third party data, enabling ad campaigns to be augmented by data from providers such as BlueKai. Baker believes DataXu will now offer publishers and advertisers better combinations of consumer, creative and context within audience segments and use those learnings to extend campaign reach and drive performance.

"There is a scaling problem with highly targeted campaigns that we solve using our core asset, an automated learning system, ” Baker says. “You have to learn which consumers are asking for the product being advertised. By combining third party data you can start to infer customer patterns and find the audience that is most likely to yield results. This business is very solid on the need for targeting. But there’s another level of it that needs to be adopted. A lot of our clients don’t know what they don’t know yet.”

Baker believes the time has come to move on from what he calls “first generation” DSPs. In fact he says that DataXu’s new version of its platform takes it away from being a “demand” side platform and closer to being a “decision” side platform.

“We help advertisers make decisions,” he says. “We’re creating a digital media brain. We are not a first generation DSP. We’re just at the beginning of whole new way of doing business. Decision side platforms are about data and analytics and the coming together of these disciplines.”

The highlights of DataXu’s new Audience Optimization:

• Targeting: Beyond bulk audiences, marketers can target specific geographies, content types, and other advanced targeting parameters like time of day and day of week.

• Performance: Uses the advertiser’s audience data to optimize campaign performance by creating a campaign specific variable-pricing model to value impressions based on how closely they resemble the best performing combinations.

• Consumer Insight: DataXu provides audience insights to highlight unique characteristics of a brand’s audience and the most effective means for reaching them.