This PMP is unique to the South African digital advertising market not only because it has access to inventory that is hyper-local (owing to the local newspaper websites), but it also has access to inventory that covers a broad range of interests such as breaking news, female lifestyle interests, sports, and business.

“This is a very important step taken by SPARK Media in allowing advertisers to target relevant audience segments across our Group’s sites as an alternative to buying site-specific impressions,” says SPARK Media’s joint CEO Marc du Plessis.

“We know that more advertisers are starting to allocate increasing budgets to Programmatic advertising buys, but often are not certain of the quality of the inventory they’re buying, or where their brand actually ends up. This is where a PMP comes in, eliminating transparency and brand safety issues.”

“While we’re very excited about the prospects of ignition SELL. we’re still firm in the belief that a true and transparent South African market place should exist for South African publishers.  Something we would most certainly support and become a part of,” added Du Plessis.

SPARK Media believes that the success of programmatic advertising relies heavily on the ability to target the right audience, with the right message in the right place.

Inventory bought through ignition SELL. can be overlaid with audience data layers improving the quality of inventory to buyers, further enhancing and improving the user experience and performance metrics. 

ignition SELL. is a one-stop online display and mobile shop for clients who want to buy advertising space through premium direct (IO buys), preferred deals or private auctions. Reaching 6.1 million unique browsers, 31 million page views, and over 50 million ad impressions every month.

Publishers that form part of this offering include The Citizen, Woman and Home magazine, Caxton’s Local News Network (LNN) (+76 local news websites), All4Women and many more premium publishers.

ignition TARGET. is an offering run off an internationally-recognised data management platform (DMP). It is a programmatic and direct audience (IO buys) solution providing advertisers with the opportunity to target unique audiences across a network of premium, news and lifestyle focused publisher websites. Advertisers have the option to target audiences based on their browsing behaviour as well as demographic targeting.

For more information, visit sparkmedia.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.