• by Tobi Elkin , May 31, 2016

Global advertising marketplace Rubicon Project on Friday said it will automate Japan’s first publisher co-op, the DELTA Publisher Alliance (DPA).

The DPA is a publisher co-operative focused on premium inventory. The Alliance will launch initially with three Japanese publishers: Succor King, J-CAST News and AUTO SPORT. Combined, these publishers have a monthly reach of more than 16 million unique users and have 114 million monthly page views, according to Rubicon.

The new co-operative will enable publishers to make their entire mobile, app and desktop inventory available to advertisers through Rubicon’s tech platform. This will enable participating publishers in the Alliance to access demand from the world’s leading advertisers.

Of the co-operative, Tomoyuki Ikeda, managing director for Japan at Rubicon Project, told Real-Time Daily via email: "This is extremely significant, as it signals that publishers recognize that by banding together with the Rubicon Project technology platform, media owners can bring greater scale to buyers, allowing them to maximize monetization of their advertising inventory."

Co-operatives are a vehicle for publishers to aggregate their inventory and compete in the digital space. Advertisers in Japan will increase their spending on digital media to $9.50 billion this year, of which 48.1% will be mobile, according to eMarketer data.

Tetsuya Shintani, Country Manager for Japan, The Trade Desk Japan K.K stated:  “Private marketplaces [PMP] have recently taken off in Japan. We understand the value of audience data at scale across multiple premium publishers.”

Rubicon said the Japanese partnership marks the 12^th co-operative that will tap its tech platform.