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About

Bastiaan Heerkens

Independent advisor and interim lead in AdTech and monetization

I have worked in AdTech since 2005: at an AdTech services company, a publisher, a broadcaster, an agency and a streaming service, and since April 2025 on my own as AdExcelerate. In those roles I designed, built and optimized advertising ecosystems, from ad server to SSP, DSP, DMP and CMP.

Most of the work sits where commercial and technical decisions meet. I make the trade-offs visible, so the people who own revenue and the people who own the stack can decide together.

  • Bunnik, the Netherlands
  • English and Dutch
  • Remote, EU time zone
  • LinkedIn
Bastiaan Heerkens

How I work

Independent and vendor-agnostic

I take no fees or commissions from vendors and resell nothing. What I recommend follows from your situation, not from a partner programme.

Commercial and technical together

I look at the commercial question and the technical setup in the same engagement, so the decision holds up commercially and technically.

Alongside your team until it runs

I work with your people, not around them. Your engineers build; I steer, check and hand over.

In confidence

I don't name clients on this site, and what I see at one client stays there.

What I know well

Each engagement draws on the part that fits; the rest stays in the background.

AdTech architecture and integration
Web, mobile, CTV and FAST. Vendor-agnostic.
CTV and FAST monetization
SSAI and CSAI, hybrid auctions, yield.
Privacy and compliance
GDPR, TCF and consent, contextual targeting, first-party data, clean rooms.
Commercial propositions
New advertising products and the business model behind them.
Vendor lifecycle
Selection, RFI and RFP, contract, and complex migrations.

Background

Where I learned it

  1. 2005 to 2008AdTech servicesDQ&A

    From ad operations to business development, in a DoubleClick reseller programme.

  2. 2008 to 2011PublisherSanoma Media Group

    Digital product and media specialist.

  3. 2011 to 2022BroadcasterRTL Nederland

    From ad operations to AdTechnology Architect and Manager AdTech.

  4. 2022 to 2024AgencyGroupM / Xaxis

    Tech & Data Lead Media Solutions, addressable TV and native.

  5. December 2024 to April 2025StreamingRakuten TV

    Interim role.

  6. Since April 2025IndependentAdExcelerate

    Independent advisor and interim lead.

Start with a conversation

Send me a few lines about your situation, and we find a time that works.

bastiaan.heerkens@adexcelerate.com
Email me