Leading publishers DPG Media, Mediahuis Nederland B.V. and NDC Mediagroep have officially formed a collaborative ‘Publishers Forum’ as of September. These publishers have committed to meeting quarterly, virtually or in-person, to discuss industry trends, best practices, and negotiate cost sharing for development projects between the publishers and their technology vendors, including Lineup.
This group is modeled after the format pioneered by ESI Media, News UK, and Telegraph Media Group in London. Rich Mead, Group Operations Director at ESI Media, spoke at an event last year about The London Publisher Group, which was formed to facilitate cooperative partnerships between publishing competitors – and other Lineup customers have since desired to do the same.
Maarten Witteman, IT Area Manager for DGP Media highlights that “the Benelux Publisher Forum is a good example of collaborating in the media market to deliver the most value to our customers. Both advertisers and consumers of our media propositions benefit from a smooth and digitalized Advertising Machine that delivers converting and meaningful relevant Advertisements. We were happy to facilitate the first session of many to come!”
Arjan Kluft and Marit Rijks, Functional Application Managers at Mediahuis Nederland B.V., described their top priority for the forum to be productive, open-minded communication amongst all participating organisations. Teamleader Kluft said, “We hope that the participants in the upcoming discussions are willing to accept individual differences and, above all, look for similarities. Obviously, I hope that the outcomes of the discussions are positive and that the functioning of the Publisher’s Forum is so successful that other parties will also join in in the long term.”
Joeri van der Werf, team leader of traffic and sales support for NDC, says the forum is a long-term, hard-won dream come true: “I wished to have a Publishers Group for all Adpoint users in the Netherlands. After a few years lobbying, I am very happy that the time was finally right to start the Benelux Publishers Group. And look at us, all publishers attended, and everyone participated with the same approach!”
Van der Werf says that in a market where all companies are facing common challenges, the forum is a unique opportunity to unify for constructive change and prolonged improvements for Adpoint users – in every area from best practices to cost reduction.
Lennart Van Walsum, Sales and Account Director for Europe at Lineup, believes this alliance will benefit both sides of the exchange and drive success in otherwise challenging times. He said, “Even in the absence of in-person conferences and other methods of receiving feedback from our clients, it is heartening to see our customers in the Benelux find ways to come together and help us serve them better. These market leading companies push the entire media industry to another level of success that we believe will result in exponential returns for years to come.”
About Lineup
Lineup Systems is the leading global provider of media sales technology. Its cloud-based system, Adpoint, is the industry’s only true end-to-end sales and revenue management solution. It has been specifically designed to enable media businesses to save time, work more efficiently, and increase sales. In 2021, Lineup Systems launched Amplio, an all-in-one platform that assists customers with data consolidation, data-driven continuous marketing, subscriptions, and billing.
