Alliance formed to test blockchain in digital advertising

A group of advertising agencies have formed an alliance with blockchain platform Zilliqa to explore the application of blockchain technology in digital advertising.

This will assess the applicability of the technology in online advertising by testing two critical components: one on the throughput and the other to arrive at the right consensus protocol.

The group includes multiple businesses in the programmatic advertising supply chain, such as advertisers, advertising agencies, demand side and supply side platforms, data management platforms, trading desks, independent verification companies and publishers.

Project Proton

Mindshare, the global media planning and buying agency, and Zilliqa have partnered with enterprise software provider MediaMath, advertising exchange Rubicon Project and software company Integral Ad Science to develop the first prototype, called “Project Proton”. It aims to provide a way for all stakeholders across the value chain to interact in a secure and verifiable manner through smart contracts on a high throughput blockchain.

The findings should be ready before the end of the year. “We are absolutely delighted and thankful to have MediaMath, IAS, Rubicon Project and Underscore CLT partner with us on this project with Zilliqa,” says Gowthaman Ragothaman, Chief Development Officer of Mindshare AMENA.

“There are many claims and speculations on the applicability of this technology to our business. Project Proton is designed to test this, particularly in the areas of building consensus and managing high throughput.”