Interview with Jesper Benon: Simplifying the open web

The open web is having a moment. And it's about time.

After years of watching ad budgets concentrate on a handful of platforms, the industry is waking up to a striking reality: 61% of online time happens on the open web, yet 72% of programmatic ad budgets still chase social platforms. The gap isn't about audience value or inventory quality. It's about simplicity.

Jesper Benon, CEO and Co-founder at SeenThis, has learned over the years that the best industry shifts happen when technology makes complexity manageable and scale practical. That’s now happening on the open web. We asked him about what's changing, what technology innovation is unlocking, and why the balance of digital media may be shifting.

What’s the biggest structural shift you’re seeing in how brands and agencies approach media today?

Diversification is no longer a discussion. It’s showing up in real budget decisions. I’m seeing four things converging.

First, platform CPMs are rising while their reach is plateauing - the math just isn't working the way it used to. Second, privacy changes have leveled the playing field on targeting, so platforms' data advantage is shrinking. That’s created more technical parity and shifted competition toward quality, outcomes, and transparency. Third, brands are setting actual budget allocation targets for the open web, not just exploring. And fourth, AI is reducing complexity across the value chain. Planning, activation, and optimization are becoming more automated and efficient, making it easier to operate across multiple ecosystems. Over time, more agent-driven buying and selling will further streamline how media is transacted.

That combination - economic pressure, technical parity, and real commitment - is what's driving change. AI is accelerating it. The appetite to diversify has always been there. Now the conditions are finally aligned to make it happen.

Let's talk about the open web. For someone outside the industry, what exactly is it, and why should anyone care?

The open web is where people go on their own terms to read the news, follow the sports they care about, explore cooking, travel, culture, whatever draws them. Independent publishers and creators, building content for audiences who actively seek it out. Research consistently shows this is where people spend the majority of their online time.

Social platforms do what they do well, connecting people, surfacing the content their algorithms predict users want to consume, keeping audiences inside their ecosystems. But people's online lives don't stop there, and neither should advertising.

Yet, it's been much harder for advertisers to activate on the open web. Fragmented and technical, yes. But also legitimate concerns about brand safety, targeting, cookie unpredictability, ad fraud. And when ads didn't load properly or perform well, that reinforced the hesitation. That combination created a massive gap between where audiences are and where advertising investment flows.

SeenThis was founded to solve a specific problem. What was that problem?

Honestly? Recognizing the incredible untapped potential of the open web, and knowing that technology innovation could unlock it.

Video was the most obvious and urgent place to start. It was expensive to distribute, constrained by inventory access, quality compromises and unreliable delivery. Brands had to choose between reach, cost efficiency and quality. Either way, you weren't getting the value out of every impression.

We built SeenThis to be the partner that makes the open web work — starting with video, which is where the gap between potential and reality was widest. Our technology based on adaptive streaming breaks those barriers and works seamlessly with your existing DSPs, SSPs, and agency partners to make video advertising actually work. Full quality maintained, instant loading. The video adapts in real time to optimize both speed and quality for every single impression. Suddenly you're unlocking the open web's potential, not working around its limitations.

Display advertising is often perceived as offering less creative impact compared to other channels. How are you redefining what’s possible for brands on the digital canvas?

Years of technical limitations have defined the boundaries of display advertising. File standards, bandwidth and delivery technology shaped how creative was built and executed. It worked, but it also set a practical ceiling for what the format could deliver visually.

SeenThis streaming solution changes that equation. It enables high-resolution assets, richer motion and consistent visual quality to be delivered efficiently, without compromising load times or user experience.Brands can design for impact instead of around technical limitations.

And the engagement proves it works -Increased number of viewed impressions delivered, significantly stronger brand recall. When creative quality isn't compromised, audiences actually watch and act on it.

You talk about "simplifying the open web." What does that vision actually mean?

It means building the infrastructure the open web deserves, making it as simple and straightforward as any other channel.

Today, that starts with what we do best: instant video delivery, automatic optimization, controlled inventory without specialized knowledge. Making the open web as easy to activate as platforms are.

And when that infrastructure is in place, the economics improve significantly. We're seeing better returns on every dollar spent and cost per click compared to traditional delivery. That's what technology advancement makes possible - better performance for less money.

But the infrastructure challenges of the open web and advertising in general go beyond any single format. Video is where we've proven the model, and it remains our core, but our ambition is to keep removing barriers wherever they exist.

Let's go bigger picture. What's really at stake here beyond advertising budgets and campaign efficiency?

Two things, really.

First, the commercial opportunity for advertisers. We're in a moment where technology innovation can fundamentally shift the equation - the open web can finally deliver the attention and engagement it's always been capable of, efficiently and at scale. That opens up entirely new possibilities for how brands reach and affect audiences. And with AI accelerating what's possible in real-time optimization, the gap between potential and reality is closing faster than ever.

Second, the health and diversity of the entire media ecosystem. This is about ensuring a balanced internet where independent publishers and major platforms can thrive side-by-side. When we solve the performance friction on the open web, we provide the 'commercial oxygen' that independent journalism, local news, and niche creators need to remain viable. By making the underlying technology work better for everyone, we aren't just helping brands reach audiences - we’re supporting a transparent, decentralized, and diverse information landscape that benefits the consumer and the industry alike.

If SeenThis achieves everything you're setting out to do, what changes for the industry? What does success look like?

Success is when the open web becomes part of the natural mix in media plans - as seamless and standard as any other channel.

When quality publishers have robust advertising revenue because the experience delivers. And SeenThis is the partner that makes it possible, starting with premium video, and continuing to simplify wherever advertising needs it most.