Hakuhodo DY ONE Realizes High-Purity Data Integration as a Foundation for AI Utilization through Google's 'Buyer Direct' Pilot

Hakuhodo DY ONE (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Hiroaki Kitazume; hereinafter 'Hakuhodo DY ONE') has conducted a Proof of Concept (PoC) for 'Buyer Direct,' a next-generation advertising trading model promoted in collaboration with Google, targeting major domestic brands. The PoC confirmed reductions in intermediate costs and improvements in data transmission efficiency compared to conventional programmatic trading.

Background In the current digital advertising market, the supply chain is fragmented by trading methods such as reservation-based, performance-based, and outcome-based, leading to structural issues like opaque, increasing intermediate costs and a disconnect between data and infrastructure. Furthermore, routing through multiple systems compromises the freshness and accuracy of data, hindering ad delivery optimization and the construction of high-quality data infrastructure essential for future AI utilization.

Hakuhodo DY ONE focused on the potential for 'transparency, high-purity, and autonomy' through the shortest-path ad trading enabled by 'Buyer Direct,' and has been conducting ongoing verification. This PoC verified the effectiveness regarding intermediate cost suppression, high-purity data integration, and improved ad delivery performance through delivery records of major domestic brands.

Overview of the PoC In this PoC, advertisements were delivered to premium media utilizing 'Buyer Direct,' which connects Hakuhodo DY ONE's major domestic DMP 'AudienceOne®' directly with 'Google Ad Manager' via the shortest path.

▼ Result 1: Verification Results at Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd. A comparative verification was conducted between conventional PMP (Private Marketplace) delivery using a DSP and delivery via 'Buyer Direct' on a major newspaper website. The results showed that delivery via 'Buyer Direct' achieved a 21.7% increase in CTR (Click-Through Rate) compared to PMP delivery. Furthermore, CPC (Cost Per Click) was reduced by 66.3%. This result indicates that the delivery design, which bypasses multiple intermediaries, improved transparency and cost efficiency in ad trading. It is also believed that shortening the route for data integration contributed to improved targeting accuracy.

▼ Result 2: Delivery Performance at Yanase & Co., Ltd. A comparative verification between 'Buyer Direct' delivery and direct advertising was conducted on two business media websites and one major newspaper website. The results showed that 'Buyer Direct' delivery controlled duplicate contact across three media outlets and expanded new reach by 12.4% compared to direct advertising. In addition, the target coverage increased by 18%, and the CTR increased by 8%. Furthermore, the average engagement rate of site visitors via 'Buyer Direct' increased by 34% compared to direct advertising. This indicated that cross-media delivery control and data utilization led to expanding contact with high-interest new users.

The main benefits brought to advertisers by 'Buyer Direct' confirmed through this PoC are as follows: 1. High Cost Performance and Transparency By connecting directly through 'Google Ad Manager' without intermediaries, technical fees and intermediate costs that are often opaque can be reduced. This enables highly transparent investment in premium media while utilizing advertising budgets more efficiently. 2. High-Purity Data Integration as a Foundation for AI Directly connecting ad servers via the shortest route makes it easier to maintain data freshness and accuracy. Conveying insights held by 'AudienceOne®' to media without degradation not only optimizes campaign performance but also contributes to the development of high-quality data infrastructure to support future AI utilization. 3. Sustainable Advertising with Low Environmental Impact Shortening the supply chain route reduces unnecessary data processing and server hops. This is expected to realize ad operations that consider environmental impact reduction while maintaining ad delivery performance.

Technical Considerations for Implementing Agentic Advertising The value of 'Buyer Direct' is expected to go beyond improving transparency and data purity in ad trading, serving as a foundation to support autonomous ad trading using AI agents in the future.