What illumin does

illumin (formerly AcuityAds, founded 2009 in Toronto, rebranded 2023) is a publicly traded demand side platform and journey advertising technology company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under ticker ILLM. The company operates a machine-learning-powered platform that unifies programmatic advertising, email, and social activation across the marketing funnel, targeting brand marketers and agencies with omnichannel campaign planning, execution, and measurement across video, display, native, audio, connected TV, digital-out-of-home, and social channels. Core product modules include the Canvas (a unified campaign management interface), Insights (real-time signal activation into campaign delivery), Impact (in-platform brand lift and incrementality measurement), Forecasting (AI-driven omnichannel budget and reach planning), RadiusIQ (location-based event targeting using Foursquare and Cuebiq data), and ClarityTV (connected TV activation with direct premium supply from Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, FOX, CBS, and ABC). The platform integrates with Meta Ads Manager, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Google/YouTube for sequential messaging and supports email platform integrations for first-party audience activation.

illumin generates revenue through three primary streams: (1) usage-based DSP fees on programmatic ad placements, billed monthly in arrears with usage charges plus third-party data costs; (2) platform subscription and service fees for self-serve and managed-service tiers with differentiated support levels; and (3) exchange transaction fees from its ad exchange, which grew 45% year-over-year to $17.4 million in Q1 2026. The company employs a hybrid go-to-market combining direct enterprise sales (with "Request a demo" as the primary conversion path) and self-serve platform access for SMB and mid-market segments, supplemented by distribution partnerships with FSBD, Cint, Cuebiq, and Foursquare. Customer concentration spans enterprise brands (Oakley, Blue Shield of California, Purple, H&M, Stingray), mid-market agencies (Gold Consulting Group, MN&Co, Lamark Media), and nonprofits (Kidney Foundation) across North America, Latin America, and Europe. The company maintains a broad regulatory compliance footprint including SOC II Type II, HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, PIPEDA, and LGPD, positioning it for healthcare and financial verticals with restricted targeting rules. Recent organizational turbulence — CEO transition, CFO departure, board restructuring, and 52% stock decline against a backdrop of 20% revenue growth and margin compression (gross margin contracted from 44% to 35% year-over-year in Q1 2026) — defines the current execution risk profile.

Name

illumin

Legal name

illumin Inc.

Website

https://illumin.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

illumin is a publicly traded Toronto-based machine-learning-powered demand side platform that unifies programmatic, CTV, social, and email campaign planning, activation, and measurement for brand marketers and agencies across North America, Latin America, and Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Demand Side Platform (Programmatic Advertising)

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810), Media Buying Agencies (541830), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Demand-Side Platforms (DSP) (BPAMALAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Programmatic Display & Retargeting (DSP) (MPAAACAE)

Keywords

• Demand side platform
• Programmatic advertising
• Connected TV advertising
• Digital advertising technology
• Omnichannel campaign management

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Demand Side Platform (DSP) Services: illumin operates as a DSP, charging fees for programmatic advertising placements across digital channels. Fees include usage-based charges, third-party data costs, and platform service fees. The platform invoices aggregate campaign spend monthly in arrears.
2. Platform Subscription and Service Fees: Customers pay for access to the illumin platform, its tools (Canvas, Insights, Impact, Forecasting), and support levels. Self-serve and managed service tiers imply subscription-style pricing alongside variable media spend fees.
3. Exchange Services: Revenue from the company's exchange (ad exchange) services grew 45% YoY to $17.4 million in Q1 2026, representing a significant portion of total revenue. This stream covers programmatic ad inventory transactions processed through the platform.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

illumin operates a machine-learning-powered demand side platform (DSP) that enables advertisers and agencies to plan, execute, and measure omnichannel programmatic campaigns from a single Canvas interface. The platform connects programmatic, email, and social advertising across the marketing funnel with integrated insights, brand lift measurement, forecasting, and AI-driven optimization. Additional capabilities include the RadiusIQ location-based targeting tool and the ClarityTV connected TV platform with access to premium streaming inventory.

Product overview

illumin is a journey advertising platform combining a demand side platform (DSP) with integrated measurement and planning tools. The core offering consists of the illumin DSP with its central Canvas interface for campaign execution, supported by Insights for real-time signal activation, Impact for brand lift and incremental measurement, and Forecasting for omnichannel planning. The platform connects programmatic, email, and social across the marketing funnel through multiple channels including Native, Display, Video, Connected TV (via ClarityTV), Audio, Digital-out-of-home, and Social. Additional modules include RadiusIQ for location-based event targeting, Data for first-party audience activation, and configurable Service Levels. The company, formerly known as AcuityAds (founded 2009), rebranded to illumin in 2023 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with offices in the US, Mexico, and Spain.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• illumin Demand Side Platform (DSP) A machine-learning advertising platform that enables marketers to visually plan, execute, and analyze omnichannel marketing strategies from a single connected canvas. The platform serves as a demand side platform connecting programmatic, email, and social across the funnel for brands and agencies.
• Canvas Campaign execution interface that simplifies execution by bringing every decision into a single, intuitive view. Enables advertisers to build, launch, and manage campaigns in one place, allowing launch up to 20% faster than other leading platforms.
• illumin Insights Built-in insights provider that unlocks up to 48% more third-party reach by bringing real-time signals directly into campaign activation, so reach grows and waste shrinks.
• illumin Impact Measurement product showing real lift and incremental impact directly inside the DSP. Combines audience holdouts and brand lift measurement to show whether campaigns drove real results, enabling launch of third-party brand lift studies up to 90% faster than off-platform.
• illumin Forecasting Planning tool enabling marketers to forecast budgets, CPMs, delivery, and reach in one connected view. Allows planning of omnichannel campaigns 35% faster with clarity to move faster and avoid lost opportunities.
• RadiusIQ Location intelligence tool that captures verified fans attending live events using custom Foursquare datasets built from Mobile Ad IDs (MAIDs). Enables geo-fencing of stadiums and event footprints for real-time engagement and cross-screen retargeting for up to 30 days post-event.
• ClarityTV Connected TV measurement and activation platform that brings identity, premium supply, FSBD audience intelligence, and transparent measurement together. Provides direct access to premium streaming environments including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, FOX, CBS, and ABC without middlemen.
• illumin Data First-party data activation capabilities enabling marketers to turn audience data into action through email integration and audience sync with open web campaigns, with privacy-safe audience intelligence via the FSBD partnership.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cost-per-in-store visit reduced by 98% (from $332.35 to $5.35) for Oakley's 172-store campaign
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

AI capability5 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Cint Group ABcoreTechnology or Integration · 14 May 2026illumin and Cint Group AB integrated self-serve brand lift measurement directly into programmatic campaign setup, enabling marketers to launch brand studies up to 90% faster and view results in minutes rather than weeks. The integration embeds measurement into campaign execution, allowing real-time optimization for brand awareness, ad recall, and purchase intent without post-campaign reporting.
• Full Stack Big Data (FSBD)coreTechnology or Integration · 19 March 2026illumin partnered with Full Stack Big Data (FSBD) to develop privacy-safe audience intelligence for programmatic advertising without relying on traditional identifiers like cookies and mobile advertising IDs. The integrated platform offers over 1,000 high-value audience segments across North America, EMEA, and LATAM. Benchmark tests showed up to 35% higher unique incremental reach and 40% more efficient frequency control.
• CuebiqsupportingTechnology or Integration · 19 March 2026illumin partnered with location intelligence provider Cuebiq to power the RadiusIQ geo-targeting feature used in the Oakley omni-channel campaign. Cuebiq's real-world foot traffic data enabled verified location-based audience segments to drive in-store visits.
• FoursquaresupportingTechnology or Integrationillumin's RadiusIQ uses custom Foursquare datasets built from Mobile Ad IDs (MAIDs) to geo-fence stadium and event footprints, enabling real-time on-site audience engagement and subsequent cross-screen retargeting.
• Meta (Facebook, Instagram)coreTechnology or IntegrationMeta integration allows programmatic audiences built in illumin to be transferred directly into Meta Ads Manager for social campaign activation, enabling sequential messaging across programmatic and social channels. The case study with MN&Co demonstrates how this integration united open web and social from a single platform.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• StackAdapt: Multi-channel programmatic DSP specializing in native, display, video, CTV, and audio for mid-market brands and agencies. Comparable to illumin in serving similarly sized customers with self-serve and managed-service tiers and a unified campaign interface.
• Criteo: Programmatic advertising platform with retargeting and broader commerce-media capabilities. Comparable to illumin's exchange and retargeting offerings, though with a stronger commerce/retailer focus.
• MediaMath: Independent programmatic DSP serving brands and agencies with omnichannel campaign management. Competes with illumin in the enterprise DSP category with similar supply-agnostic buying across display, video, CTV, and audio.
• AdRoll: Self-serve DSP focused on retargeting and brand-awareness campaigns for SMB and mid-market advertisers. Comparable to illumin's lower end of the market in offering self-serve omnichannel campaign execution with built-in measurement.
• The Trade Desk: Independent demand-side platform offering programmatic media buying across CTV, display, video, audio, and native. Direct competitor to illumin's DSP, serving brands and agencies with similar omnichannel campaign orchestration, though at materially larger scale.

Broad incumbents

• Yahoo DSP (Yahoo Ad Tech): Yahoo's omnichannel DSP offering programmatic buying across native, display, video, CTV, and audio. A scaled incumbent competing with illumin for agency and brand budgets, with deeper native and owned-mail inventory advantages.
• Zeta Global: Data-driven marketing platform combining a DSP with first-party identity data and analytics. Comparable to illumin's journey advertising positioning, though with a larger data cloud and broader enterprise software footprint.
• Google Display & Video 360: Google's enterprise DSP offering campaign management across YouTube, Display, Video, and audio inventory, integrated with Google Ads and Campaign Manager. A scaled incumbent that competes broadly with illumin's DSP across enterprise and agency buyers.
• Amazon Ads DSP: Amazon's walled-garden DSP providing programmatic access to Amazon-owned inventory and third-party supply, increasingly competing for omnichannel budgets that include CTV. A broad incumbent that competes with illumin for advertiser spend, particularly in retail and CTV.

Others

• LiveRamp: Data collaboration and identity infrastructure provider enabling advertisers and platforms to connect first-party data for activation. Functionally adjacent to illumin's enhanced identity graph and FSBD partnership, supplying comparable data clean-room and identity resolution capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/illuminhq
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@illuminHQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/illuminhq
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/illuminhq
• Instagraminstagram.com/illuminhq

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds12 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A3 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about illumin