Driving Growth, Partnerships and Purpose with Ryan Sullivan

As director of partnerships, Ryan Sullivan represents VIOOH for the ANZ region, driving commercial growth and strengthening VIOOH's brand across Australia and New Zealand. Since joining the business in August 2023, his focus has been on building strategic partnerships with media owners, DSPs and agencies, working to enhance awareness and accelerate the adoption of programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) advertising.

Ryan is a passionate programmatic media industry professional with over 15 years of experience in digital media. Ryan has developed expertise in programmatic media strategy, strategic partnerships and account management. Prior to joining VIOOH, he spent over five years at Bench Media, a leading independent programmatic agency in Australia and also previously at DSP, RhythmOne and digital ad network, Optimise Media. Ryan began his online career in the UK with online job boards, Monster and Totaljobs Group, developing a strong foundation in digital sales and account management.

LBB> What was it about the world of advertising media that pulled you in? What did you do before you got into media?

Ryan> Even from a fairly young age, I can remember being drawn to the advertising industry. No more than four years after the first AT&T banner impressions were served online, I was studying advertising and PR at college in the UK. That was my first taste of the industry and there was just something about it that fascinated me and has always continued to do so. There’s always something new to learn, whether that be new tech or data advancements, or just the ever-changing landscape.

It’s a really exciting space to work in and while I know that the day-to-day stresses can sometimes cloud our vision, when you take a step back and look at what we do I’m sure most people would agree it’s exciting. Some of my friends find it ridiculous that I actually enjoy what I do, but I believe there shouldn’t be any alternative. Mark Twain might have been taking things a bit far when he said “find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” but when you consider you spend about a third of your waking life at work, it probably makes sense to find one you enjoy!

LBB> Over the course of your career, what have been the most significant changes you’ve seen in the media side of the industry?

Ryan> The one thing that this industry can always guarantee is change. Since I’ve been involved in the digital media industry, I’d say the biggest change has been the expansion of digital platforms and with that, the interconnected evolution of programmatic. If you think about it, digital advertising went from a token line-item on a media plan to pretty much the entire media plan.

I remember working in the early days of online job boards and speaking to CMOs and marketing directors who laughed at the idea of paying $500 to advertise job ads online. They thought no one would ever look for a job online but they would happily drop $50,000 on a full page ad in the newspaper, because “that’s what we’ve always done.” You fast forward to today's landscape and it’s mind-blowing how far we’ve come in a relatively short time.

I don’t know though, is that maybe a bit of a cheat answer? I ask that because if you peel that one apart, encased within the “rise of digital” topic you have other, similarly monumental topics in their own right; the explosion of mobile and social for example, or the evolution of omnichannel. Even the ever-increasing importance of data and, in more recent years, the introduction of AI. However, when you add all of those topics together, what we’ve experienced really has been a seismic paradigm shift in how we view and interact with each other and the world around us.

LBB> What was your first job in the media industry and give us a taste of the path that your career has been on?

Ryan> My first media role in Australia was working for Optimise Media, an ad network based in Sydney, focusing on lead generation and affiliate marketing. I’d met Optimise’s MD, Chris Barron while working in media recruitment when I first arrived in Australia and he had kindly offered me a job. It was a fantastic experience and one I really look back fondly on; the role really opened the door to the Australian media industry for me. From that point on, I have been fully immersed in programmatic, working first for DSP RadiumOne, and then six years with leading independent agency Bench Media. After six really enjoyable years with the Bench team I took the opportunity to launch the VIOOH office in Australia in 2023.

Moving from demand to supply was really eye-opening. Once again, I was really in full learning mode and experiencing a whole new side of our industry. The whole statement of “you don't know what you don't know” was never more apparent. For people that haven’t experienced it, it’s one thing understanding a channel from the outside looking in, it’s quite another being immersed in it.

LBB> In more recent years, which projects have proven to be the most stimulating and satisfying to work on and why?

Ryan> I would honestly say that the constant journey of learning that the industry provides is what I’ve found most stimulating. I know I spoke about it earlier, but I think we sometimes forget how fortunate we are in this industry. We have been doing some really cutting-edge stuff especially over the last 10 years or so with the continual evolution of programmatic, and we’re also very fortunate to work with a lot of very intelligent people in our industry doing some very cool things. I think it’s a rare week where I’m not learning something, or at the very least raising my understanding on a topic in some way.

However, I’d say that of all the elements of the programmatic world, it has been how the use of data has continued to progressively influence everything we do, that has been the most stimulating. I started in programmatic during the hyper-personalisation phase and I was instantly hooked. Starting from scratch and understanding the complexities and often murky world of the data landscape and how different sources impact and influence outcomes was mind-blowing. Also, really getting under the hood of that landscape to be able to articulate this complex world to clients and guide them on what was valuable and what was effectively smoke-and-mirrors was something I really enjoyed.

LBB> In media, an understanding of human behaviour is so important - what are some of the most interesting changes you’re seeing in terms of how we behave with and interact with media?

Ryan> How we interact with media has completely shifted in the last 10 years. I spoke earlier about the job ads example. That goes back about 15 years now but really, if you start to think about your own interaction with media today versus 10-15 years ago, the contrast is stark. Of all the developments, the biggest shift in how we interact with media is fully connected to the rise of mobile. From the beginning of mobile internet to the rise of smart phones, the mainstreaming of mobile gaming and the development of mobile-first strategies, everything else just progresses from there.

While most of this progress has enhanced our lives, not all of the changes have been positive and progressive. While some would argue that social media has brought the world closer together, the shift from traditional media consumption to social short-form has impacted the world’s attitudes and perceptions, allowing for echo-chamber-esque polarisation, only amplified by fake news and misinformation. This has paved the path for the rise in online extremism and other toxic behaviours such as online bullying, harassment and victimisation. As an industry that drives revenue to these channels, it's something we should be actively trying to combat.

LBB> Brand safety is more important than ever and consumers and campaign groups are increasingly holding brands to account for the media they choose to spend on - what are your thoughts on this phenomenon and how are you and your teams navigating it?

Ryan> A recent industry whitepaper said, “about 70 percent of brands and agencies said they or their clients have been exposed to brand safety risks at least once, with 10 percent of respondents reporting “regular” exposure.” Brands spend millions of dollars each year promoting and elevating their brands but all this work can all be undone in one poorly planned moment in media. In this situation, while the brands should be held to account the buck has to stop with the media agency as they’re the ones who are in the weeds and understand the pitfalls. There are enough brand safety tools available in market now to avoid the Mercedes-ISIS or Disney-hate-speech YouTube disasters of 2015-17.

What amazes me is that after all of these repeated offences, and many more, how much the industry still spends in that channel. While YouTube is certainly not alone, it’s a regular culprit for brand safety issues, yet since those fated days, YouTube’s revenue has gone from $5.5B to around $40B at the end of 2024. I strongly believe that this is where programmatic DOOH comes into its own. It is completely brand safe as it’s a physical panel in a known premium location with no ad blockers or ad fraud. Marketers who had grown tired of poor digital media experiences were searching for a trusted, premium digital media channel and pDOOH really fills that void.

LBB> More attention is being paid to the environmental impact of various media types, particularly in digital - where do you think the industry is in terms of tracking that impact and minimising it?

Ryan> This is a topic which is, as you’d imagine, pretty contentious. From what I see, there is a lot of greenwashing going on in our industry. There is a lot of talk from brands and agencies about how they want to see their advertising carbon footprint reduced, but when it comes down to the choice between carbon efficient options and lower CPMs, the latter almost always wins. Not to say there aren’t some really progressive brands making positive carbon choices. Locally, brands such as SBS and Visit Sunshine Coast are making positive carbon reduction choices in their media buying by purchasing GMPs from Scope3 accredited publishers, like JCDecaux.

Once again, pDOOH stands head and shoulder above the rest and has shown to be the most carbon efficient digital media channel available. A recent study carried out by VIOOH and Cedara found that pDOOH through VIOOH was 10X less carbon intensive than display and 13X less carbon intensive than video. With continued consumer scrutiny, these are some of the decisions that brands need to start thinking about when planning and executing digital strategies.

LBB> Decoupling, recoupling, creative agencies trying to build media functions, media agencies creating content studios… What’s your take on the relationship between creative and media and where do you think it’s going?

Ryan> This is quite a hot topic since the industry is going through a period of major consolidation right now, and it's one that’s causing a lot of uncertainty. First there was the monolithic Omnicom - IPG merger earlier this year and then the more recent, yet equally headline-capturing merging/rebranding of GroupM into WPP Media. While these are obviously massive changes, in reality we’ve seen similar fluctuations throughout the years as new approaches are explored.

We’ve seen creative agencies start to see their margins getting squeezed and try to combat that by setting up media teams. There was also a large movement of brands trying to in-house their media buying. However, the one thing we’re still all guilty of to this day is allowing creative and media to be created in vacuums. Sometimes an outstanding creative idea just doesn’t work in the “real” media world and vice versa. Sadly, as each sits at opposing ends of the campaign workflow, the advertiser often doesn’t find out until the campaign end. But, when the two come together and truly collaborate is when we see great campaigns come to life.

LBB> And finally, what sort of media is doing things differently? What do you think is most exciting media channel right now?

Ryan> Quite the wonderful segway to a shameless plug! Having worked on the buy side of programmatic for many years, the one channel that really got me excited was programmatic digital OOH (pDOOH). It was the last piece in the programmatic puzzle, bringing what we already knew to be an incredibly powerful, premium branding channel into the programmatic ecosystem.

Suddenly, a channel which when bought direct, due to minimum spends had been reserved solely for big brands, was now in reach for so many others. Also, the fact this channel is now as targetable and measurable as other programmatic channels has provided the stage for marketers to create some really exciting omnichannel campaigns.

While we’re a good seven years since pDOOH really hit the market, there’s still a lot to do. But that’s exactly why I made the move to VIOOH, I wanted to be part of that growth story. Being able to help launch the brand in Australia alongside my colleague Mitch has been a really amazing journey. It’s not been without its challenges, but in the two years I’ve been working at VIOOH, I’m fortunate to have learnt so much, worked with some amazing people and managed to squeeze some fun in along the way!