Video ad management platform Beachfront has announced that ad buyers can now use its technology to access Canoe’s premium VOD ad inventory. Canoe powers VOD and linear addressable advertising in 38 million U.S. households that subscribe to pay-TV from Comcast, Charter and Cox, which are Canoe investors.

In a briefing, Chris Maccaro, CEO of Beachfront, told me that the company has been investing in the solution for several years and sees an opportunity to improve VOD yield by exposing digital-centric buyers to premium VOD inventory. Chris believes that as VOD inventory is made available to agencies, brands, demand side platforms and others for automated programmatic buying, yield will improve and prices will increase.

Chris sees bringing technology to bear on VOD buying processes that have been manual and cumbersome will create new value in the VOD ecosystem. Chris noted that the new buying capability can sit behind traditional direct selling, creating a complementary way for TV networks to expose premium inventory to digital buyers. The Beachfront/Canoe collaboration is another example of how the digital and TV ad spheres are converging.

VOD viewing has been up during the pandemic, along with streaming and CTV, so the ability to better monetize VOD inventory comes at a critical time. Canoe’s CRO Ed Knudson said in a statement that “Unlocking VOD inventory to a new class of ad buyers helps ensure networks get the most value out of their programming, which is particularly helpful at a time when on-demand viewing is on the rise.”

Beachfront’s new buying capability will be fully live on December 1st. Chris anticipates agreements with other pay-TV operators soon, which will further expand reach and available VOD inventory.