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SHE Media Launches Strategic Partnership with Direct Digital Holdings' Colossus SSP to Increase Advertiser Access to a Powerful Female Audience

DRCT | February 15, 2024

Colossus SSP's Inclusive Marketplace Approach to Further Advance SHE Media's Work in Fueling Growth of Women-Owned & Diverse-Owned Properties

HOUSTON and NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRCT) ("Direct Digital Holdings" or the "Company"), a leading advertising and marketing technology platform operating through its companies Colossus Media, LLC ("Colossus SSP"), Huddled Masses, LLC ("Huddled Masses") and Orange142, LLC ("Orange142"), announced today that SHE Media, the top 10 lifestyle media group that includes SheKnows, Flow Space, StyleCaster, Soaps and BlogHer, has selected Colossus SSP as a new supply-side platform partner. Colossus SSP has a strong track-record in connecting advertisers with a truly inclusive audience, at scale, tapping into a range of multicultural / diverse publishers, as well as top-tier general market media.

Colossus SSP will serve as a programmatic exchange sell-side partner for SHE Media's flagship brands and other properties, all of which are focused on providing useful and inspiring high-quality content for women, reaching a total audience of 74+ million users per month[1]. Key to the partnership, Colossus SSP will provide access to inventory across SHE Media's Meaningful Marketplaces – a robust community of independent, premium, women-owned and diverse-owned publishers that SHE Media assists with monetization, operations and educational services.

"The tens of millions of women that visit SHE Media properties and engage with its content are a tremendous asset to advertisers across category sectors," said Mark D. Walker, CEO and Co-Founder, Direct Digital Holdings. "Not only do women represent more than half of the U.S. population, they are responsible for 85 percent of the day-to-day spending decisions and 80 percent of all healthcare choices for the family. Partnering with SHE Media will open Colossus SSP's pipeline of advertisers to this valuable audience. In addition, it's an honor to work with a company that also champions inclusivity across the media and marketing ecosystem."

"SHE Media's strategic partnership with Direct Digital Holding's Colossus SSP will further solidify both companies' deep-seated commitment to the economic growth of women-owned and diverse-owned media," said Kate Calabrese, SVP, Media Solutions, SHE Media. "This integration will deliver an additional pathway to match advertisers with both the audiences they intend to reach and with the independent publishers whose businesses they are dedicated to support."

"We are excited to be working with SHE Media because it is such a perfect fit for Colossus SSP. Their dynamic female-focused content and coveted female audience are very much aligned with the needs of the advertisers that we serve," added Lashawnda Goffin, CEO, Colossus SSP.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and which are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties.

As used below, "we," "us," and "our" refer to Direct Digital Holdings. We use words such as "could," "would," "may," "might," "will," "expect," "likely," "believe," "continue," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "project" and other similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, but not all forward-looking statements include these words. All statements contained in this release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements.

All of our forward-looking statements involve estimates and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that we have made in light of our industry experience and our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, many factors could affect our actual operating and financial performance and cause our performance to differ materially from the performance expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: our dependence on the overall demand for advertising, which could be influenced by economic downturns; any slow-down or unanticipated development in the market for programmatic advertising campaigns; the effects of health epidemics, such as the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic; operational and performance issues with our platform, whether real or perceived, including a failure to respond to technological changes or to upgrade our technology systems; any significant inadvertent disclosure or breach of confidential and/or personal information we hold, or of the security of our or our customers', suppliers' or other partners' computer systems; any unavailability or non-performance of the non-proprietary technology, software, products and services that we use; unfavorable publicity and negative public perception about our industry, particularly concerns regarding data privacy and security relating to our industry's technology and practices, and any perceived failure to comply with laws and industry self-regulation; restrictions on the use of third-party "cookies," mobile device IDs or other tracking technologies, which could diminish our platform's effectiveness; any inability to compete in our intensely competitive market; any significant fluctuations caused by our high customer concentration; any violation of legal and regulatory requirements or any misconduct by our employees, subcontractors, agents or business partners; any strain on our resources, diversion of our management's attention or impact on our ability to attract and retain qualified board members as a result of being a public company; our dependence, as a holding company, of receiving distributions from Direct Digital Holdings, LLC to pay our taxes, expenses and dividends; and other factors and assumptions discussed in the "Risk Factors," "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations" and other sections of our filings with the SEC that we make from time to time. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of these assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual operating and financial performance may vary in material respects from the performance projected in these forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances, and we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

About SHE Media
As a top 10 lifestyle media company reaching 74+ million monthly visitors, SHE Media focuses on the power of content and community to move our culture forward. SHE Media believes that media companies can and should be a force for good in the world. The company's rich editorial ranges from health, food, and family to career and entertainment. SHE Media's flagship brands, SheKnows, Flow Space, StyleCaster, Soaps and BlogHer, produce award-winning lifestyle content and events that reflect the passion and purpose of the company. In addition to the flagship brands, the SHE Media Collective supports thousands of independent publishers and content creators with technology, education, and monetization opportunities to grow their businesses.

SHE Media has a longstanding commitment to the advancement of equity and inclusion through media. In 2021, SHE Media launched Meaningful Marketplaces enabling advertisers to buy media at scale from a community of women and minority-owned publishers, ensuring that independent media receives the economic support to thrive. SHE Media is also dedicated to advancing women's health. In 2023, SHE Media launched Flow Space, an all-new digital and live media platform providing content, community, and commerce in service of women's whole life health. Part of Penske Media Corporation (PMC), SHE Media is based in New York, with offices in Los Angeles. Follow SHE Media on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

About Direct Digital Holdings
Direct Digital Holdings (Nasdaq: DRCT), owner of operating companies Colossus SSP, Huddled Masses, and Orange 142, brings state-of-the-art sell- and buy-side advertising platforms together under one umbrella company. Direct Digital Holdings' sell-side platform, Colossus SSP, offers advertisers of all sizes extensive reach within general market and multicultural media properties. The Company's subsidiaries Huddled Masses and Orange142 deliver significant ROI for middle market advertisers by providing data-optimized programmatic solutions at scale for businesses in sectors that range from energy to healthcare to travel to financial services. Direct Digital Holdings' sell- and buy-side solutions manage on average over 125,000 clients monthly, generating over 300 billion impressions per month across display, CTV, in-app and other media channels.

Media Contacts

For Direct Digital Holdings:
press@directdigitalholdings.com

For SHE Media:
Brooke Jaffe, SVP Public Affairs & Strategy, bjaffe@pmc.com
Abby Kalicka, Senior Director of Communications, akalicka@pmc.com

1 (Source: ComScore, SHE Media Multiplatform Key Measures March 2023)