Direct Digital Holdings Partners with Basis Technologies on Buy- and Sell-Side

Holding Group's Colossus SSP Integrates with Basis to Increase Advertisers' Programmatic Reach of Multicultural / Diverse Media Inventory

Buy-Side Company Huddled Masses Collaborates with Basis to Serve SMB & Middle-Market Advertisers

HOUSTON and CHICAGO, Oct. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRCT) ("Direct Digital Holdings" or the "Company"), a leading advertising and marketing technology platform operating through its companies Colossus Media, LLC ("Colossus SSP"), Huddled Masses LLC ("Huddled Masses") and Orange142, LLC ("Orange142"), today announced a new partnership with Basis Technologies ("Basis"), a global provider of programmatic advertising and media automation solutions.

As part of the agreement, Colossus SSP has directly integrated with the Basis media automation platform to enable more agencies and brands to increase diversity, equity and inclusion efforts by scaling spend on multicultural / diverse audiences and media, and minority-owned properties such as Blavity, Ebony and Univision.

In addition, Basis has been named a preferred demand-side platform (DSP) by Huddled Masses – which specializes in working with small- and mid-sized business (SMB) and middle-market business clients. With these types of advertisers often having smaller budgets, preventing them from accessing bigger technology platforms, this deal enables Basis to increase its reach with this set of underserved marketers.

"Basis Technologies is aligned with Direct Digital Holding's focus on democratizing programmatic advertising for all," said Mark Walker, CEO and Co-Founder, Direct Digital Holdings. "The omnichannel capabilities and wide scale of Basis will bolster Colossus SSP's and Huddled Masses' abilities. In turn, the relationship with Huddled Masses is also giving Basis expanded reach to an often overlooked – but extremely valuable – group of advertisers."

"Direct Digital Holdings and Basis Technologies want to be part of the solution to overcome the barriers that underserved groups on the buy- and sell-side face in digital media," said Tyler Kelly, President, Basis Technologies. "The need for the technology and services that Direct Digital Holdings offers is obvious, as they provide the heft and influence that can channel ad technology innovations for the benefit of a wider set of organizations."

Currently, Colossus SSP represents 22,000 media properties – offering inventory from both multicultural / diverse and general market publishers. The company has 136,000 advertisers accessing its platform monthly, generating over 250 billion impressions per month across display, CTV, in-app and other media.

Huddled Masses is a marketing technology partner passionate about helping clients grow their business and serves as a long-term partner extension of the team, with decades of expertise to maximize the impact and efficiency of every client's media investment as well as drive performance marketing. 

About Basis Technologies

Basis Technologies is a global provider of programmatic advertising and media automation software and services for enterprises. The Basis platform improves omnichannel marketing performance by unifying programmatic and direct media buying, workflow automation, cross-channel campaign planning, universal reporting and business intelligence. It delivers a comprehensive selection of buying methods across all channels and devices, utilizing all major creative types and formats. Delivered through a world-class media services team or a SaaS model, Basis solves digital media complexity and drives profitability through a single system of record, seamless team collaboration, and actionable data-driven insights. Headquartered in Chicago with offices servicing North America, South America, and Europe, Basis Technologies has received numerous accolades for its commitment to employees and workplace culture. Learn more at https://basis.com.

About Direct Digital Holdings

Direct Digital Holdings (Nasdaq: DRCT), owner of operating companies Colossus SSP, Huddled Masses, and Orange 142, brings state-of-the-art sell- and buy-side advertising platforms together under one umbrella company. Direct Digital Holdings' sell-side platform, Colossus SSP, offers advertisers of all sizes extensive reach within general market and multicultural media properties. The Company's subsidiaries Huddled Masses and Orange142 deliver significant ROI for middle market advertisers by providing data-optimized programmatic solutions at scale for businesses in sectors that range from energy to healthcare to travel to financial services. Direct Digital Holdings' sell- and buy-side solutions manage on average over 136,000 clients monthly, generating approximately 250 billion impressions per month across display, CTV, in-app and other media channels.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and which are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties.

As used below, "we," "us," and "our" refer to Direct Digital Holdings. We use words such as "could," "would," "may," "might," "will," "expect," "likely," "believe," "continue," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "project" and other similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, but not all forward-looking statements include these words. All statements contained in this release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements.

All of our forward-looking statements involve estimates and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that we have made in light of our industry experience and our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, many factors could affect our actual operating and financial performance and cause our performance to differ materially from the performance expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: our dependence on the overall demand for advertising, which could be influenced by economic downturns; any slow-down or unanticipated development in the market for programmatic advertising campaigns; the effects of health epidemics, such as the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic; operational and performance issues with our platform, whether real or perceived, including a failure to respond to technological changes or to upgrade our technology systems; any significant inadvertent disclosure or breach of confidential and/or personal information we hold, or of the security of our or our customers', suppliers' or other partners' computer systems; any unavailability or non-performance of the non-proprietary technology, software, products and services that we use; unfavorable publicity and negative public perception about our industry, particularly concerns regarding data privacy and security relating to our industry's technology and practices, and any perceived failure to comply with laws and industry self-regulation; restrictions on the use of third-party "cookies," mobile device IDs or other tracking technologies, which could diminish our platform's effectiveness; any inability to compete in our intensely competitive market; any significant fluctuations caused by our high customer concentration; any violation of legal and regulatory requirements or any misconduct by our employees, subcontractors, agents or business partners; any strain on our resources, diversion of our management's attention or impact on our ability to attract and retain qualified board members as a result of being a public company; our dependence, as a holding company, of receiving distributions from Direct Digital Holdings, LLC to pay our taxes, expenses and dividends; and other factors and assumptions discussed in the "Risk Factors," "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations" and other sections of our filings with the SEC that we make from time to time. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of these assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual operating and financial performance may vary in material respects from the performance projected in these forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances, and we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Media Contacts
Laura Goldberg
LBG Public Relations for Direct Digital Holdings
laura@lbgpr.com
+1-347-683-1859

Anthony Loredo
Basis Technologies
anthony.loredo@basis.com
+1-917-573-4157

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SOURCE Direct Digital Holdings