Samba TV and SpotX have announced a partnership to improve video ad targeting to viewers on the web and in apps and connected TVs. Under the deal, Samba TV’s TV viewership data will become available in SpotX’s ad server, so that custom TV audience segments can be built using combined TV and digital data.
SpotX will become Samba TV’s primary connected TV ad server enabling advertisers to buy connected TV ads either programmatically or direct.
Samba TV’s viewership data is based on its software incorporated into millions of smart TVs. Samba TV said 2,500 attributes spanning 200 million connected TV impressions per month.
The companies said that over 50 different publishers will offer the combined data sets, with substantial growth expected over the next 6 months.
While the partnership offers cross-screen targeting opportunities, connected TV likely has the biggest potential given the massive shift of viewing underway. According to FreeWheel’s latest Video Monetization report, 27% of ad views occurred on connected TVs in Q4 ’17, up from just 8% in Q4 ’14. Almost 70% of U.S. TV homes now have at least 1 TV connected to the Internet.
All of this growth has made connected TVs one of the hottest areas for video ads. The ability to target ads based on viewership and other data means that connected TVs offers significant upside for advertisers. Research last week indicated connected TV ads are being funded equally from linear TV and online video budgets.
Samba TV and SpotX’s partnership will no doubt help accelerate these trends.
Categories: Advertising, Devices, Partnerships, Programmatic