Sizmek Ad Suite (discontinued) vs. Smaato

If you need a prompt support for any kind of issue, those guys really rock. I opened tickets on Friday evening getting things fixed in less than an hour. That's a critical point for demanding clients. The main weaknesses in my opinion are the user interface that is not so user friendly and the integration with Google products. This is in place but, mainly due to Google's walled garden, the environment is not so efficient.

Strong Google Exchange Bidding partner when comparing to other companies in EB.

Incentivized

• Easy Dashboard Navigation - Search bar allows user to quickly locate details about any campaign
• Insightful Analytics Tools - Platform provides users customizable graphs to leverage for reporting presentations
• Extensive Reporting Metrics - Ability to pull ad performance reports on all aspects of campaign
• Simple Creative Hosting - Easy upload and path location details for creative files

Incentivized

• Fill - the ad requests we send to Smaato have seen a great requests-to-impression ration.
• Revenue - We've seen a lift in overall revenue thanks to the high CPM bids we get from Smaato.
• Payments are always on time and they have a responsive financial team that is helpful in answering any questions.
• Customer service - They are very fast to respond to any issues. The set up was streamlined thanks to their professional customer service.

Incentivized

• Sizmek's trading desk was a total miss when I tested it a few years ago.
• I briefly used Abakus and did not find it intuitive, accurate or helpful. It has a long way to go before it can compete with the likes of VisualIQ.

Incentivized

• Inventory can be a bit pricey in competitive markets like the US.
• Reporting dashboard is limited, needs work.
• They don't offer a lof of transparency about margins over media cost.

Incentivized

Smaato has a UI where you can control your line items on the traffic you want to receive. That is a key unique selling point that other SSPs don't offer. Most of the items that you will need like reporting can be done on a self serve manner and that is a big plus, specifically for changes that need to happen really fast and you don't need to deal with account managers that may take some time to answer emails.

Incentivized

Smaato's account management team is very professional. They are quite fast in terms of customer support, which is very helpful. One item that stands out is that they are willing to understand what you need for each campaign and what is the best way to move forward. They don't just jump quickly into trying to upsell more of Smaato's products (audiences, data) like other SSPs do.

Incentivized

When it comes to serving Ads, Doubleclick does a better job with QA and handling creative in my opinion. However the tagging system is more diverse and handy in Sizmek.

Incentivized

Smaato has better anti-fraud controls than most exchanges. Even if the inventory ends up being a bit pricey, I am more comfortable running campaigns on Smaato because I know there won't be any issues with the clients claiming refunds for invalid traffic. I believe that as the industry matures, other SSPs will follow suit and prices will increase along with the board.

Incentivized

• Sizmek has had a positive impact on ROI because it delivers the reports our clients want and need
• Sizmek has had a postive impact on employee morale due to ease of use

Incentivized

• We have seen prices a bit high, thus reducing profitability
• However, the vast reach has allowed us to get more budgets and fulfill them so the net effect is positive.
• We have been able to run campaigns that targeted the same user on mobile and desktop by running with Smaato and that has allowed us to get more budgets from specific clients.

Incentivized