Fyber is a global technological platform for mobile monetization. In 2009, the company presented rewarded ads for monetization of applications — the format where advertising is displayed in exchange for rewards or premium content. Today, Fyber is one of the leading SSPs in the world.

In May 2020, Fyber will speak at the Adsider Conference in Kyiv. Adsider had a brief interview with Leon Kosovsky, Director of Sales and Business Development at Fyber.

Please tell us briefly about Fyber.

Fyber resulted from the merger of three companies: Inneractive, Heyzap, and SponsorPay. Today, this is a large holding that works with software and application developers on the one hand and brands and agencies on the other. Our goal is to be an intermediary between the developers who want to monetize their assets and brands who want quality impressions.

How do you fight for brand safety?

Our operation model is to work only with developers directly, without intermediaries. There is a separate professional team that is responsible for SDK integration in the applications of our partners. This allows us to fully control who we work with and weed out the rogue ones. Among other protection instruments is our own anti-fraud technology and complying with all existing verification standards. Nobody can guarantee 100% safety, but we ensure the preventive measures.

At the same time, we were one of the first who gave brands and advertisers a possibility to estimate the viewability of their advertising. Advertisers see everything that is happening on Fyber platform. Transparency is our chief competitive advantage.

What challenges do you encounter?

Fyber is focused on in-app, and this idea still seems new and a little scary to brands and big agencies, despite the fact that their audience spends 90% of screen time on the phones. Roughly speaking, all users are already in mobile, but not all advertisers are there yet. That is why the main challenge is that often Fyber discovers in-app advertising for large advertisers. This taught us to be ready to any questions — from the scope of Fyber's activities to tracking instruments and mobile analytics. Brands nowadays know very little about in-app, and we are trying to fill that gap. It is a great responsibility.

What is your main goal for 2020?

We are an emerging market, and most buyers haven't started using programmatic yet. Companies continue to do monetization the old way, in manual mode and through the waterfall model.

Our number one goal for the coming year is to transfer as many large partners as possible to programmatic and create a new automated ecosystem. This is the task not only for our company, but for the market in general.

In my opinion, Fyber's transparency is what makes it the leader in this race. All the experiments, all settings, all our products are aimed at solving the issue of lack of transparency in automatization. This is an ambitious goal, but it is achievable, and we are not alone in fighting for it.

Tell us about your biggest career fail.

I guess I regret not coming to digital earlier, when mobile was just emerging.

The second thing that I can think of is not exactly a fail — more of a lesson. Before Fyber, I worked in a different company that did mobile tracking. Its business approach was not as transparent, and it cost us many opportunities of cooperation with brands.

Fyber's transparency and readiness to change is much more appealing to me. That is why I am here and I am around today, and that other company isn't anymore.

What do you expect from the upcoming Adsider Conference?

I like it that the organizers always smile and definitely know what they are doing. As long as the preparation is in their hands, I am optimistic.

In addition, Adsider Conference is a good opportunity to meet new partners among local and European brands. Fyber will also have what to show for: we have what to tell the guests of the conference and also something to please them.

Mobile application developers from Ukraine and Belarus will be attending the conference. What can Fyber offer them?

Fyber is after all a company from Israel, and we believe that any developer or entrepreneur starts to think about revenue sooner or later. Fyber helps startups and new projects at the stage when they are tired of running forward on pure enthusiasm and start thinking about money.

Beginner developers often focus on the product itself and miss out on the monetization aspect. And that is when we enter the game. During the conference, we will tell other companies how to cooperate, earn, and love each other. Not for free, of course, but for a reasonable price.

A zombie apocalypse question: what will you do if the entire world abruptly stops using smartphones?

Do you know a joke about a Jew who caught a wish-fulfilling golden fish? The fish says: "You have three wishes." The Jew answers: "I want a car, a flat, and a beautiful woman — that's the first one!" This is about me and about Fyber: we don't know how to stop. Fyber has been around for 11 years, and the company has existed for so long, because the professionals here can do anything. So, if today all smartphones disappear, but people still want to communicate to each other, Fyber will invent them again. And I will drive this idea, because I can't keep silent. What life is that without smartphones?