In a first for a television network, Fox Corporation has opted to enable programmatic trading of addressable set-top box (STB) Video on Demand (VOD) by partnering with Comcast-owned FreeWheel.
BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!
The pact allows advertisers using FOX to reach consumers what the network calls “a path to execute addressable household-level campaigns on any of its content viewed On Demand within the Comcast Xfinity footprint.”
This adds to the programmatic trading capabilities for the FOX portfolio, including free advertising-supported Video on Demand platform Tubi, available on Xfinity X1, Xfinity Flex and Cox Contour devices.
Dan Callahan, SVP of Data Strategy and Sales Innovation for FOX, commented, “As audience viewing patterns increase across more platforms, FOX continues to focus on expanding our addressable capabilities and offering advertising partners multiple solutions for their media plans. Our partnership with FreeWheel enables us to deliver targeted advertising to Comcast households who are watching FOX’s popular series on their VOD
platform.”
The Trade Desk is the first demand side platform (DSP) to complete the integration, enabling advertisers to execute addressable guaranteed campaigns on FOX VOD inventory.
VOD viewing represents an increasing portion of most programmers’ total viewing hours, enhancing the importance of bringing greater data-enablement and automation to this segment of the viewing population.
“Advertisers continue to crave more inventory from TV networks and their supply side partners, which is why this combined solution from FOX and Freewheel hits the mark,” said Jon Tabak, GM of Strategic Partnerships at The Trade Desk. “Historically, TV has been somewhat of a blind spot from a digital advertising perspective. By further expanding our platform’s reach in the TV ecosystem, our clients have a clearer picture of their advertising investment and total impact across screens and devices, especially the biggest screen in the room.”
The partnership with FOX is part of FreeWheel’s overall effort to build programmatic capabilities for addressable television. These capabilities will allow demand partners to target audiences against a programmer’s VOD inventory on a guaranteed, fixed price, fixed volume basis. The goal is to allow advertisers to transact on television and premium video inventory in new ways that continue to meet their buying objectives, while opening up additional scale and increasing demand for media companies’ valuable audiences.
FOX and FreeWheel expect additional integrations with demand partners in the coming months.
