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Samhub’s History is one of Collaboration and Innovation

Samhub has been at the forefront of digital transformation, pioneering first-party data solutions that empower both publishers and advertisers. By fostering transparency and collaboration, Samhub bridges the gap between media and brands, enabling a privacy-first marketing ecosystem built on user consent and enriched data insights.

A Unique Beginning

At Samhub, we have a unique origin story, rooted in the collaboration of Sweden’s leading media houses, including Stampen Media, Mittmedia, Promedia, Eskilstuna Kuriren, NLT, VK Media, and Norran. Our company was born out of a collective mission: to drive digital transformation within Swedish media and foster the development of innovative digital products and services.

An Impressive Track Record

From the beginning, Samhub has been a key player in advancing the digital landscape. One of our proudest achievements was spearheading one of the largest IT projects in Swedish media history, unifying over a hundred websites under a single CMS platform. This initiative not only streamlined operations across these media outlets but also created a shared foundation for cost savings and the exploration of new digital opportunities. Samhub’s story is, and always has been, one of cooperation and collaboration.

In 2008, Samhub introduced Sweden’s first programmatic ad network, Adbid, which later became Adapt. The platform quickly gained traction, generating over 50 million SEK in revenue before being sold to Mediekompaniet. Today, Adapt is part of Mediekompaniet’s digital network, with Bonnier Media also joining as an owner through its acquisition of Mittmedia.

Continuing our tradition of innovation, Samhub pioneered the 360 Digital Agency concept. This service bundled Facebook advertising with Google search ads and display inventory across media houses, while an automated order management platform allowed a single ad-ops professional to manage hundreds of customers seamlessly. Monthly aggregated reports made it easy for advertisers to track their performance across channels.

Another groundbreaking project was Brain, our first-party data platform designed to unify data across Adapt’s network of websites. The goal was simple: enable collaboration among Swedish media outlets to maximize the value of their first-party data.

A new leadership and new vision

In 2017, Samhub entered a new era with a management buyout, led by CEO Martin Bergqvist. With this transition came a fresh vision: to create a new type of marketing data—one built on first-party assets, fostering transparency and a stronger commitment to online privacy. This vision was grounded in a spirit of cooperation and innovation, values at the heart of Samhub since day one.

We identified three major trends that were reshaping the digital advertising landscape:

  1. Tightening data regulations, such as the EU’s GDPR, which imposed strict limitations on how companies handle personal data.
  2. Evolving user behaviors, with individuals placing a higher value on privacy and data integrity.
  3. The shift away from third-party cookies, driven by a growing demand for privacy-first technologies across browsers and apps.

An Unwilling Market and a Pivot

However, as a startup focused on first-party data, we quickly realized that our primary audience—media houses—wasn’t ready to embrace this approach just yet. Third-party cookies still dominated the programmatic advertising space. This led us to pivot toward the buy-side of programmatic marketing, addressing the needs of advertisers.

Advertisers faced a different set of challenges: understanding their marketing efforts without relying on global algorithms, aligning their customer data with marketing strategies, managing multiple media channels with limited resources, and leveraging first-party data effectively.

As we pivoted towards advertisers and brands the market started shifting for publishers and media. As Apple shut down third party cookies, asd an increasing share of Internet users decline to give consent and as the implementation of the GDPR created new risks for publishers and media, the need for first party data strategies rose.

A few yeárs down the road we are now better equipped than ever to help create the ecosystem we envisioned . We have a long history of helping publishers and media and now we also understand deeply the needs of advertisers and brands. And we have a platform that can serve both and help them meet through a common understanding of their audience.

A New Marketing Reality

Today, Samhub offers a comprehensive first-party data platform designed for both advertisers and publishers. Our platform is divided into two key offerings: Samhub for Media and Samhub for Brands. We create a bridge where advertisers and media can come together over a common understanding of online users. Samhub enriches advertisers’ customer and web traffic data with the same insights that power publishers’ and media outlets’ targeting strategies. This allows both parties to “speak the same data language,” grounded in user consent and with full transparency.

Our Vision and The Future

We envision a marketing ecosystem where internet users can trust that their data is only used where they’ve granted consent, where local and national media can compete on a more level playing field with global marketing giants. This ensures the sustainability of fair and ethical journalism, while advertisers are empowered to create even more engaging, customer-centric campaigns.

Samhub is not just a data platform; it’s a catalyst for a more transparent, privacy-focused, and collaborative digital future. We’re proud of our history, and even more excited about what lies ahead.

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