Direct Digital Holdings owns operating companies Colossus SSP, Huddled Masses, and Orange 142, which bring state-of-the-art sales and buy-side advertising platforms together under one umbrella company. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Direct Digital Holdings Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman Mark D. Walker to learn more about the company.
Mark D. Walker’s Background
Walker has roughly 20 years of experience in building relationships and revenue-generating operations for a wide variety of companies, including large Fortune 500 corporations and start-ups. And Walker said:
“Before starting Direct Digital Holdings, I served in several roles — from an early hire at startup Questia to business development director at NRG Energy and COO of EBONY Media. While I was at NRG Energy, I was able to garner a deep understanding of having a top-down view of the value chain. To complement this experience, Ebony gave me a bottom-up view of the value chain of how media is purchased. After working in both sides of the advertising world, I saw an immense opportunity for digital advertising technology platforms that are more efficient and equitable. Along with my co-founder, Keith Smith, we founded Direct Digital Holdings to essentially help companies buy and sell media — and we leverage technology to do it.
Formation Of Direct Digital Holdings
How did the idea for Direct Digital Holdings come together? Walker shared:
“In 2018, I co-founded Direct Digital Holdings with my partner and now our President, Keith Smith. Keith and I have very complimentary professional backgrounds, and he was really the ideal partner for me to go into business with to start this pioneering and fast-growing ad-tech company.”
”Keith and I founded Direct Digital Holdings to create a “one-stop shop” to make it easy for marketers to purchase curated solutions to meet their diverse media spending goals and reach the right diverse audiences where they are and return a high ROI. We were confident that this dynamic and inclusive approach to advertising would be a game-changer, as we provide programmatic, digital advertising solutions to companies of all sizes, with a specialization in reaching highly sought-after multicultural audiences and underserved middle market companies across the U.S.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Walker reflected:
“Taking the company public on Nasdaq was a pivotal moment in our company history, and it has added a significant amount of credibility to our company.”
“We started undergoing the rigorous IPO process a year in advance and the market was turning against us, but we felt pursuing an IPO and raising the capital would give us a strong foundation and credibility to grow the business in the strategic direction we needed to compete. The timing was certainly a huge challenge as we went public the same day that Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. This timing unleashed a host of macro-level issues across the economy, but we did not give up, and we were able to complete the IPO process. Our team has been hard at work as a public company, and we are proud to be the ninth black-owned company to ever go public on a US stock exchange, forging a path forward for others to follow.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Walker explained:
“Direct Digital Holdings is one of the fastest growing players in the programmatic advertising industry, with a focus on serving companies and audiences in mid-sized markets and under-represented constituencies (gender, race, sexual orientation) – those often overlooked or marginalized in the ad space.”
”At the base level, we are a holding company for three core operating companies – Colossus SSP, Huddled Masses, and Orange 142. All three combine to bring state-of-the-art sell- and buy-side advertising platforms together under one umbrella company. Direct Digital Holdings’ sell-side platform, Colossus SSP, offers advertisers of all sizes extensive reach within the general market and multicultural media properties. Our subsidiaries Huddled Masses and Orange142, deliver significant ROI for middle market advertisers by providing data-optimized programmatic solutions at scale for businesses in sectors that range from energy to healthcare to travel to financial services.”
“Currently, our sell- and buy-side solutions manage approximately 125,000 clients monthly, generating more than 300 billion impressions per month across display, CTV, in-app and other media channels.”
Evolution Of Direct Digital Holdings’ Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Walker noted:
“Enhancing our technological advantage and deepening our competitive moat has been a key focus for Direct Digital Holdings. We have made significant investments in our technology stack, advertising platform and operational structure. Initially, we expected to see the impact of these investments in 2024. However, we are pleased to report these benefits and associated growth began making an impact in 2023.”
”Our technology partnerships and overarching business strategy enable us to meet a growing number of customer demands while also furthering the capabilities of our technology platforms. Consequently, our open marketplace CPM platform continues to benefit as businesses seek our differentiated, thoughtful and tailored approach to advertising technology and our tech-enabled solutions. Moving forward3, we believe our technological strategy, infrastructure, and operational investments will continue to bear fruit as we make considerable progress with our server transitions as well as our overall re-platforming.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Walker cited:
“As we execute on our robust growth strategy supported by key technological capabilities, our rapid growth, as evidenced by our strong earnings results in recent quarters, has been really exciting. A significant milestone for the team was crossing $100 million in revenues in, and, importantly, just in Q3we raised our guidance again to a range of $170 million to $190 million for FY 2023. We believe we are just getting started as we continue to invest in our technology and infrastructure.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Walker about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Our recently announced strategic partnerships with Amazon Publisher Services’ Transparent Ad Marketplace, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s GreenLake Edge-to-Edge Cloud Platform, and Beeswax’s connected TV ad inventory have helped to enhance and expand our service offering as well as the industry-leading capabilities that we offer our clients.”
”One recent client success story that I like to point out is Direct Digital Holdings’ work with the University of Pennsylvania through our Orange 142 subsidiary.”
“We were commissioned to help attract potential students for the University’s “Penn Summer” program that provides summer classes for students in the tri-state area who wish to take courses at home or attend an Ivy League school during the summer.”
”As part of the campaign, we employed various channels to efficiently reach the target audience. Most of the focus was on the Delaware Valley (Philly DMA) to attract local students, accounting for 90% of the campaign’s efforts. Additionally, 10% of the targeting was allocated towards students from feeder schools such as Pepperdine, Cornell, Boston College, and Columbia.”
“To optimize reach and engagement, the campaign used different methods such as paid search, social lead generation, in-need targeting, streaming audio, and display/retargeting. In the end, utilizing diverse tactics to drive leads and promote the Penn Summer program, the campaign achieved remarkable results, including 6.6 million impressions served to the target audience with more than 39 thousand qualified clicks to the designated landing page, resulting in a high overall click-through rate of 0.60%, which surpasses the industry average, indicating the campaign’s effectiveness in capturing audience attention and driving engagement.”
“This example is just one case study that exemplifies the capabilities and reach Direct Digital Holdings can offer our clients and our expertise. As one of the fastest growing advertising companies, with top-of-the-line technology to meet the dynamic and shifting needs of the advertising market, we’re ready to help our clients achieve their goals across many industries.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Walker concluded:
”At Direct Digital Holdings, we offer customized digital marketing solutions tailored to the specific needs of verticals, including Travel & Tourism, Higher Education, Energy sectors, and many others. Our dynamic approach is designed to provide a comprehensive solution that aligns with each client’s unique objectives. Through our companies Colossus SSP, Huddled Masses, and Orange 142, we bring state-of-the-art sell- and buy-side advertising platforms together under one roof. Our mission is to deliver curated solutions that are seamless and hassle-free for our clients from ideation to implementation for high ROI.”
“Direct Digital Holdings primarily serves two key markets: the middle market and multicultural publishing, catering to businesses with revenues ranging from $5 million to $500 million. We are big enough to service the largest publishers and advertisers but small enough to provide personal assistance and recommendations as required. This means that we harness our expertise to meet customers in unique market segments in real time. We can match the right ad with the right audience to deliver the best results through advanced technology.”
“Our differentiation lies in our operational excellence and tailored approach specific to verticals like Travel & Tourism, Higher Education, and Energy to achieve digital marketing goals efficiently and effectively. We are in tune with the evolving values of the consumer and brands, and our diversity and commitment to sustainability makes us key partners for publishers and advertisers that want to reflect the modern consumer.”
