First Europe, now Japan: Ad exchange OpenX is expanding fast

Ad serving company OpenX just announced that it’s moving into the Japanese market, thanks to a partnership with Cyber Communications Inc (CCI).

OpenX Chief Revenue Officer Jason Fairchild said the deal is similar to a partnership announced earlier this year between OpenX and European giant Orange — except that CCI is an ad agency holding group, not a telecom company like Orange. In both cases, the local partner actually sells and operates the service, while OpenX provides the underlying ad exchange technology, where advertisers can bid on every impression on a website through a real-time auction.

In the case of of CCI, which is a subsidiary of Japanese advertising company Dentsu, the company will incorporate the ad exchange into a larger suite of advertising products. OpenX and CCI charge a 20 percent fee on each transaction, although they aren’t specifying the split between the two companies.

Fairchild said Los Angeles-based OpenX is the only ad exchange company expanding through this partnership model, something that’s more friendly than Google, which competes more directly with local ad agencies and media companies.

“I think this is hugely important that a viable alternative to Google is emerging,” Fairchild said. “We think our technology, along with our regional partner model, offers that alternative.”

OpenX has now raised a total of $30.8 million from Accel Partners, Index Ventures, Mangrove Capital, First Round Capital, DAG Ventures, and former AOL chief executive, Jonathan Miller, the company’s chairman.