Demand-side ad tech company Viant made its public debut this week and saw its shares surge 90% upon arrival on the Nasdaq.
Viant owns Adelphic, the self-service DSP. Adelphic is one of the few real independent DSPs in the market, enabling omnichannel buys across desktop, mobile, CTV, household addressable, streaming audio, and DOOH. Viant also (randomly) owns MySpace, though it doesn’t appear to be a key part of its current strategy.
Viant has been around for more than two decades and has had quite the journey. The company was founded in 1999 by brothers Tim (CEO) and Chris (COO) Vanderhook, who’ve been there the entire time. Viant was bought by Time Inc. in 2016 as more publishers sought to offer their own ad and martech stacks. Time’s grand vision never materialized, however, as Meredith acquired Time a year later with Meredith selling Viant back to the Vanderhooks to cut costs. In an industry with no shortage of flameouts, you have to admire the pluckiness and staying power.
Now, Viant finds itself as one of several high-flying ad tech stocks, alongside The Trade Desk, Magnite, LiveRamp, and Criteo. The market seems especially bullish on digital advertising with COVID-19 continuing to shift everything — from TV to shopping — to the web.
But will the booming stock stay afloat?
Viant’s independence is interesting as more marketers are seeking to partner with conflict-free players. The founders are also saying all of the right things, touting its “people-based” approach, emphasizing its capabilities and inventory in CTV and boasting that it’s “poised to lead the cookie-less future.”
Still, one has to wonder how Adelphic will grow and keep its market share with massive competitors like The Trade Desk, Google, Amazon, and Verizon Media out there. The deprecation of cookies and IDFA is another challenge Viant will face moving forward, regardless of its preparedness claims.
Viant is “vaporware for the most part,” says Shiv Gupta, Founder of U of Digital. “Not much value, eh financials,” he tweeted.
Dave Simon, Head of Mid Market Sales at Convoy Inc and an alum of Verizon Media and CubeIQ shared a similar sentiment, tweeting that Viant’s opening surge was “ridiculous. “If $DSP is worth 3.5B, $TTD is worth ♾.”
