Over the past 60 days Altitude Digital has added 35 new publishers to its Altitude ARENA programmatic video platform and has integrated 15 new demand-side platforms (DSPs). Altitude ARENA was launched as a self-service video platform this past April. Altitude’s CMO Joe Grover brought me up to speed on what’s behind the quick adoption.

Joe highlighted Altitude’s independence as a key differentiator in a video ad tech market that has seen rapid consolidation. In particular, Live Rail’s phase out, following its acquisition by Facebook, left many publishers looking for a new solution. Joe also noted that viewability and fraud remain industry issues, which Altitude has addressed by integrating with 5 different verification vendors in ARENA, including Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify.

Joe explained that despite all the progress in programmatic, there’s still a lot of manual work involved. So Altitude ARENA has emphasized simplicity in its tools, trying to streamline processes for publishers. The UI is completely branded for publishers as well, creating a unique feel as the publishers’ own platform, including customizing the ad server domain. Altitude ARENA enables publishers to manage mobile and desktop video advertising, including creating private marketplaces and managing direct deals.

Joe said that typically when a new publisher signs onto Altitude ARENA it’s already working with other platforms. But with many publishers seeking to consolidate their ad tech stacks, Altitude ARENA has often emerged as the main provider, combined with DoubleClick for Publishers for display ads.