• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, January 21, 2014

Sell-side platform (SSP) PubMatic on Tuesday announced a partnership with So-net Media Networks that will bring PubMatic's technology to the Japanese market for the first time. So-net Media Networks is part of the So-net Corporation and is a subsidiary of Sony. It services premium publishers in the Japanese market.

“Over the last two years, the programmatic marketplace has developed and matured dramatically in Japan,” stated Takeshi Jibiki, president of So-net Media Networks.

That statement is backed by a recent report from Accordant Media, which notes that Japan is now the second-leading country in terms of the global real-time bidding (RTB) market share. While Japan still accounts for less than 5% of the world's RTB-based media buys, it leapfrogged the UK to become the second-leading country (behind the U.S.) in terms of RTB volume just last quarter.

PubMatic also claims that it will be the first “independent global SSP” available in Japan.

"With RTB spend in Japan set to grow from $218 million in 2012 to $1 billion in 2017 (IDC, 2013), we intend to capitalize on this growth as we further expand our operations into Japan,” stated Rob Jonas, global chief revenue officer at PubMatic.