Medialets

About Medialets

Medialets operated as a third-party ad serving and rich media advertising platform specifically architected for mobile and tablet campaigns. Founded in 2008 by serial entrepreneur Eric Litman, the company established its headquarters in New York City, with additional offices in London, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Litman, who previously co-founded the internet agency Proxicom and founded Viaduct Technologies, drew on his experience to address the challenge of delivering engaging, non-intrusive advertising on personal devices. His background also included work at NeXT, the company founded by Steve Jobs, which influenced his focus on creativity.

The company's core business centered on providing technology and services for brands, agencies, and publishers to create, deliver, and measure mobile advertising. Its flagship product, Servo™, was a buy-side mobile ad server that earned Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for display impressions and clicks. Medialets catered to major agency holding groups and prominent publishers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Yahoo!. For advertisers like American Express, HBO, and Johnson & Johnson, the platform offered a way to manage and measure the return on investment of their mobile campaigns. The business model involved enabling advertisers to purchase premium ad inventory directly from publishers, providing transparency and control over ad placement through its Medialets Private Marketplace. This platform supported various buying models, including direct, guaranteed, reserved, and real-time bidding (RTB).

Medialets was recognized for producing creative rich-media ads, such as interactive games for Dunkin' Donuts and screen-cracking effects for Storm Chasers promotions. After raising over $33 million in funding from investors including 500 Global and Foundry, the company was acquired by WPP in April 2015. The acquisition was part of WPP's strategy to expand its digital and mobile capabilities. Following the deal, Medialets' technology and its team of nearly 50 employees were integrated into WPP's media investment group, GroupM, to enhance mobile campaign ROI data for clients. Post-acquisition, Litman served as a senior vice president at WPP until 2017.