Xaxis launches audience-buying services for advertisers in China

Led by Rajesh Sukhwani, who will serve as managing director, Xaxis China offers in-market advertisers what it calls the first fully featured platform for designing and running data-driven, audience-buying campaigns at scale across a broad swath of Chinese digital-media owners.

Advertisers will be able to implement coordinated campaigns on multiple channels including display, online video, social and mobile, as well as track and measure results with "an unparalleled level of transparency and sophistication", according to the company.. 

Sukhwani, previously director of global business development for Xaxis, told Campaign Asia-Pacific that “rather than simply delivering page views, which is still the dominant metric in China, the Xaxis data-management platform empowers clients to selectively connect with audiences most relevant to their message”.

The platform measures attribution, offline ROI, audience insights and brand impact based on the entire digital plan of an advertiser. “In addition, this audience-based approach also helps publishers and media owners by boosting the response rates on the ads they show," he said. "It’s a true win-win.”

China represents advertising growth opportunitites of rates averaging 50 to 60 per cent every year, according to the agency. "The market is hot and dynamic, but is lacking true one-to-one advertiser engagement online," Sukhwani pointed out.

"As we have done for our clients in other markets, we are extending our skillsets and expertise for advertisers in China to enable more targeted campaigns. It's similar to personal financial planning—you optimise your investment portfolio once you have insights to reap higher benefits".

The insights that Sukhwani referred to are non-identifiable data about a user’s online engagement collected and leveraged. "Ultimately this is what we are measured against by our clients. As we expand and grow, our own proprietary technology and know-how is applied to our clients' campaigns for increased performance," he said.

On the basis of client confidentiality, the agency was unable to name specific clients but revealed that discussions are in progress.

"We are [also] in ramp-up phase and proactively recruiting," Sukhwani added.