Group M launches group audience buying arm Xaxis

Present in 11 countries across North America, Europe and Australia, the firm incorporates the demand-side data and technology resources of WPP to enable the media agencies under Group M to deliver targeted advertising to global audiences.

Audience buying enables advertisers to target discrete audiences rather than platform-centric purchasing where advertisers place advertisements on websites, mobile or other media platforms in the hope of reaching specific audiences. 

WPP claims that Xaxis "houses the world's largest pool of audience profiles" and unites the group's audience buying capabilities, independently developed in separate businesses under the group. Group M, in particular, has been investing significantly in its demand-side buying capabilities across North America and key European markets, said Rob Norman, CEO of GroupM Interaction.

Xaxis will be headed by CEO Brian Lesser, who previously served as global general manager of the Media Innovation Group, WPP’s digital marketing technology company.

“Xaxis streamlines and improves advertisers’ abilities to directly target specific audiences, at scale and at lower cost than any other audience buying solution,” promised Lesser. 

“Historically, the most robust technology solutions have been applied to the process of selling media on behalf of publishers,” said Mark Read, CEO of WPP Digital.  “With Xaxis, we introduce a significant advance to the demand-side of the equation."