Rumble Launches Its Own Advertising Marketplace

Allum BokhariJanuary 4, 2022

Conservative-friendly video hosting platform Rumble is moving a significant portion of its ads revenue to an early-stage version of a new native ads marketplace created by the company. This is the latest step for the YouTube competitor, which Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) recently announced would become his primary platform for video content.

Eventually, all ads on Rumble’s platform will be served through Rumble’s own advertising system. The advertising marketplace aims to provide an alternative to the current advertising ecosystem by including real-time bidding, targeting, and the ability for publishers to participate and list their websites in the exchange.

“Current exchanges are opaque, they don’t let advertisers choose where to advertise, and they are enormously susceptible to cancel culture pressure,” says Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski. “We want to build a transparent advertising eco-system for creators, publishers, and advertisers that is immune to cancel culture.”

The Toronto-based video platform has attracted a growing number of high-profile Republican users, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and, more recently, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. Conservative influencers such as Dinesh d’Souza and Dan Bongino have also found a home for their content on the platform.

The alternative tech industry has exploded over the last year, as users flee the censorship of established platforms like YouTube, seeking companies that still embrace the free and open values of Silicon Valley before the industry turned towards suppressing content and political movements after 2016.

Advertising is a key element of Big Tech power, particularly for Google and Facebook. The dominance of Google’s ad tech platform has led to crackdowns from regulators, as well as rumors of antitrust enforcement from the Department of Justice.

In early 2021, it was reported by the New York Times that Google and Facebook struck a secret deal several years ago to dominate online advertising.

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.