Irish internet pioneer Colm Grealy is on a roll and his Adforce start-up has secured a deal with audio giant Triton Digital to bring programmatic advertising to broadcasters across Europe.
Last week, Adforce secured a deal with US newspaper publisher New York Press Service to sell advertising across more than 750 US and mobile newspaper websites.
Through a partnership with Triton Digital, which powers audio advertising for US radio stations, Adforce will exclusively operate Triton’s a2x platform in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.
Grealy, a founding father of the internet industry in Ireland, said the deal will unleash the power of programmatic and enhance the audio advertising landscape in key European markets.
“The ability to target and re-target listeners based on behavior, genre, device, geographic location and demographics ensures a deeply-engaged audience and a high-impact advertising environment.”
Dublin-headquartered Adforce, which also has offices in Brussels, provides a single point of contact for media agencies and brands across digital platforms.
“With a reach of more than 50m audio listeners and extensive knowledge of the European advertising industry, Adforce’s ability to create value for both advertisers and publishers is unparalleled,” said John Rosso, president of market development at Triton Digital.
Internet pioneer
Along with Barry Flanagan, in 1994, former schoolteacher Grealy established Ireland’s first internet service provider, Ireland On-Line (IOL), which was acquired three years later by An Post. He remained at the helm until the company was acquired again by Denis O’Brien’s Esat Telecom.
He went on to found DigiServe, the Dublin Daily newspaper and, in recent years, has advised mobile operators, including Telefonica, on their mobile ads strategies.
In 2011, Grealy sold Digital Reach Group to Florida-based Take 5 Solutions for an undisclosed sum.
