Cyril Zimmermann, CEO of Hi-Media, said the company has come a long way since the Internet bubble burst in 2001. “Basically we were facing bankruptcy from 2001 to 2003, but advertising revenue kept us afloat, but more importantly that time allowed us to look very closely at the online advertising business. And while everybody thought there was no ceiling online, indeed there was. Our job was to maximise the efficiency heading up there.”

The lessons learned during that time helped the company to advise publishers to: 1) optimise advertising inventory sales, 2) make paid content acceptable by users, and 3) stay independent from large proprietary platforms.

Through real-time bidding for advertising, Mr Zimmermann says publishers can reduce intermedaries and improve transparency, create better pricing to optimise advertising ROI, and offer a better allocation of the appropriate advertising toward inventory space.

Hi-Media ad exchange is a solution that uses sophisticated algorithms analysing all inventory of a publisher and then optimising, marketing and ultimately selling it at good price.

The company specialises in industries where businesses are trying to move from a free model to a freemium model, like the games industry -- and now the news industry.

Mr Zimmermann says that 28 per cent of Europeans say they are willing to pay for content, “so this is still a minority that is willing to pay.”

Video: Simon Morice and David Willox, ICM Business Video. www.wan-ifra.icmbusinessvideo.co.uk