Smaato Names Accomplished Adtech Product Strategy Expert Freddy Friedman Chief Product Officer

Smaato today announced that former Glispa Global Group CPO Freddy Friedman has joined Smaato as Chief Product Officer, effective October 2, 2017. Reporting to Ragnar Kruse, CEO of Smaato, Mr. Friedman assumes responsibility for overseeing Smaato’s global product and advertising technology strategy.
 
Mr. Friedman brings more than 15 years of product leadership experience across the digital and mobile industries to Smaato, where he will play a key role in leading the company’s mobile advertising and product experience efforts during the company’s next evolutionary stage. Smaato already delivers more than 19 billion daily ad impressions globally and reaches approximately 50 percent of the world’s smartphone users--and that number is steadily increasing. Alongside Smaato’s established executive team, Mr. Friedman will tap into his adtech expertise and knowledge around app development, big data and digital media to further scale Smaato’s growth globally.
 
“We are thrilled to bring Freddy Friedman on board as CPO during this period of rapid growth and dynamism in the company,” said Smaato CEO and Co-Founder Ragnar Kruse. “His analytical thinking, customer focus and proven track record of mentoring and driving product teams positions him as the perfect candidate to serve as part of Smaato’s distinguished executive team in heading global expansion.”
 
Mr. Friedman was most recently the CPO of Glispa Global Group in Berlin, Germany, where he focused on developing and managing the company’s adtech strategy. Prior to joining Glispa, he served as Senior Product Director at Amobee, where he headed the company’s core product lines, including its SSP, DSP, Trading Desk, and DMP. Before Amobee, he was a Product Marketing Director for the mobile VAS company Mobixell, where he oversaw all global media partnership activity for their mobile advertising unit. Prior to that, he served in a range of product positions at Pelephone, a leading mobile operator.
 
“Smaato has raised the bar in mobile advertising by creating one of the cleanest, most brand-safe and transparent exchanges for publishers, app developers and advertisers in the industry,” said Friedman. "As CPO, I look forward to broadening and evolving Smaato’s capabilities and bringing new products and services to market.”
 
Mobile ad spending is anticipated to grow faster than ever, rising from $45.95 billion in 2016 to $86.84 billion in 2020 in the US alone, according to eMarketer. As consumers’ appetite for apps continues to grow, in-app advertising will be a main driver of mobile ad spend. In Q2, in-app ad spending hit a record-high 94 percent of total mobile ad spending on Smaato’s platform. Mr. Friedman will play a critical role in spearheading the development of new products and services that are built specifically for mobile and in-app, and lead product strategy to meet demand in fast-growing markets worldwide.
 
About Smaato
Smaato is the leading global real-time mobile advertising platform, connecting 10,000+ advertisers – including 91 of the Top 100 Ad Age brands – with over 90,000 app developers and mobile web publishers. Smaato manages up to 19 billion mobile ad impressions daily and reaches over 1 billion unique mobile users monthly. Founded in 2005 by mobile pioneers Ragnar Kruse and Petra Vorsteher, Smaato has global headquarters in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Hamburg, Germany, New York and Singapore. Learn more at www.smaato.com.
 

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