Kochava Introduces First Blockchain-Based Digital Advertising Platform

Kochava, the leading mobile attribution and marketing analytics platform, announced XCHNG, an open and unified blockchain framework for the digital advertising ecosystem. The XCHNG blockchain-based system of record enables the tokenization of an insertion order (IO, or a contract to buy advertisements) with the supporting immutable infrastructure to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers of ads. The XCHNG framework will be powered by the XCHNG Token, which will be released in a Token Generation Event (TGE) in early 2018.

Kochava CEO Charles Manning said: “Currently, marketers are stuck with a complex and inefficient centralized technology path to customers that is unsecured and lacks standardization and transparency. Advertisers are demanding greater efficiency, security and transparency in the industry. By leveraging a blockchain standard, XCHNG offers an open, decentralized model for digital advertising that simplifies the process through peer-to-peer buying and selling.”

Today’s digital ecosystem—from mobile phones and laptops, to over-the-top (OTT) streaming devices—is more complex than ever, making it difficult for marketers to capture and analyze all digital touchpoints.  Further, the supply chain itself does not operate on a common system of insertion orders that are traceable from contract to delivery to measurement and ratings. As a global market of over $220 billion in 2017 (with $73 billion in the U.S. alone), the digital advertising industry is ripe for transformation. Outside of the duopoly of Google and Facebook, there is currently no system which enables targeting audiences at scale while also protecting consumers’ personal data and identities. Additionally, the advertising space is fraught with issues such as ad fraud and brand safety issues, where fifty cents of every dollar is lost to middleware, mediation and fraud.

XCHNG will tackle these issues head on with an open, global distributed ledger facilitating end-to-end workflow. Through the use of a crypto-verified distributed ledger, all parties will be able to participate in the workflow of the IO together—from discovery and negotiation to execution, verification, and payment. The framework addresses the critical concerns in the digital advertising landscape through:

1. Facilitating the buying and selling of ads using smart contract IOs;
2. Enabling the related targeting and activation of audiences;
3. Bolstering ad-spend efficiency and security;
4. Adopting a next-generation advertising system-of-record for all participants; and
5. Tokenizing the framework to treat digital ads as a true asset class.

Manning adds: “Blockchain, in its peer-to-peer nature, is a very egalitarian, very open playing field. Building the XCHNG framework on blockchain only improves and enhances the experience for all players in the digital advertising ecosystem—greater access to inventory for buyers and greater yield to publishers, both large and small. We have designed and developed XCHNG to be open for third-party verification, but Kochava also provides industry-leading measurement right out of the box. Finally, XCHNG is able to leverage the Kochava Collective, the largest independent data marketplace, comparable in scale to the biggest players in the field.”

Since its inception in 2011, Kochava has aimed to better-understand the feedback loop between user acquisition, engagement, and lifetime value throughout the digital ecosystem. Kochava customers include the world’s top advertisers and Fortune 100 companies, which depend on Kochava to measure over $6 billion in ad spend annually. Through its industry-leading technology, Kochava sheds light on the effectiveness of ad spend on all connected devices and is uniquely positioned to deliver this blockchain solution to the industry.