Industry Profile: Chris Mottershead at Publica

Time in current role:

Four months.

How would you describe what the company does?

Publica is a CTV Ad serving platform built with two goals in mind, driving increased advertising revenues for our customers, and improving the streaming experience for their audiences via seamless ad breaks. 

What do I do day to day?

My number one priority is our clients and ensuring we’re proactively working to maximise our performance, aligning with their business goals, and delivering successful outcomes. I’ll always dedicate time towards reading the latest news and developments which pertain to our industry, as it’s an ever-evolving space.

I’m responsible for driving revenue growth across the APAC region, so I’ll always be investing time in making new connections, attending events and educating potential new partners on the features of our platform and how we’re best placed to help solve any problems and support further growth. It’s also very important to incorporate some form of exercise daily, though coffee is the priority!  

Define your job in one word: 

Advancing.

I got into my industry because:

I studied marketing at university, and I’ve always been drawn towards a career in advertising and the people it attracts. I appreciate the impact of a powerful campaign, and I love working in a space where data and technology continue to innovate alongside traditional media.  

What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?

Coming from a publisher background, I know there are areas of missed opportunities when it comes to maximising revenue and enriching the audiences’ ad experience. We need to secure the supply chain and provide buyers with more signals and diverse inventory sources. To do this at scale the industry needs alignment and adoption of the latest protocols which underpin and guarantee safety, transparency, and the optimum viewing experience for audiences.   

Previous companies: 

Rakuten, Criteo, Fairfax & EMAP.

Notable campaigns/initiatives:

In my previous role at I worked across two O&O platforms, Rakuten Viber and Viki.com. Both platforms offered brands with reach amongst multicultural and diverse audiences as we were able to use identifiers which would determine the ethnicity of a user. For example, the subtitles being used when streaming shows on Viki.com or the language settings within the Viber messaging App. 

When the COVID vaccine was approved and ready to be distributed to the population, the government needed to deliver nationwide messaging. Australia is a country where 1 in 3 of the population is born overseas, and for many constituents, English isn’t their first language. The government needed to reach multiple demographics whilst communicating the same message in different languages. 

Using our deterministic data points, we created multiple cohorts across both platforms which allowed the government to guarantee reach across multilingual audiences with targeted messaging about the status of the vaccine rollout. A simple campaign to deliver yet I was proud that my company could assist towards the cause. 

Who has been a great mentor to you?

I honestly couldn’t say there’s any one individual I would classify as a mentor, however throughout my career I’ve been extremely fortunate to work under some great leaders to which their exposure has helped me to improve and provide a benchmark as to how I can operate day to day and advance in my career.

Words of advice: 

If in doubt, sleep on it.  

If I wasn’t doing this for a living:

Working in aviation.

My philosophy is: 

Be yourself, everyone else is taken.

My favourite advert is:

I’m showing my age, but the Surfer Ad from Guinness in the 90’s was ahead of it’s time. 

Subscriptions: 

Netflix, Amazon Prime, Stan, Binge, Optus Sport, Paramount, Disney+, Sky & BT Sport.

In five years’, time I'll be:

After the pandemic, I’ve dropped the concept of the five plan, however, I hope to be fit and healthy and continue to enjoy my work and believe in the purpose of my career and the outcomes I hope to achieve.