AT&T, which aims to take on Verizon in the advertising business, will hold controlling stake in the advertising venture.
INVIDI will continue operating independently under the three companies’ collective ownership. INVIDI will continue its operations in their current locations. INVIDI has offices in Princeton, N.J., Newtown, Pa., New York, Denver, Colo. and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
INVIDI’s software lets advertisers deliver addressable video advertising to the target audience — on TV and across multiple distribution platforms.
Customers can deliver advertisement through INVIDI’s technology platform to target households. Advertisers can target thousands of demographic or psychographic attributes, or a custom list provided by the advertiser. Advertisers and media buyers can accurately control reach, separation and frequency across video platforms.
INVIDI is deploying its technology for platforms operated by AT&T, DISH and others for distribution in U.S. households. INVIDI is also deploying its technology and negotiating distribution agreements in Europe, South America and Asia.
INVIDI aims to expand INVIDI’s addressable capabilities and product offerings to other video delivery platforms and providers to drive the deployment of addressable advertising.
AT&T AdWorks manages ad inventory across national ad-supported cable networks serving live, linear addressable advertising to more than 14 million households and manages data from more than 35 million set top boxes.
AT&T’s annualized advertising revenues were $1.5 billion and growing in the double digits as of the third quarter of 2016.
“We have increased revenue with targeted advertising across multiple platforms. This deal will help us accelerate growth in our addressable advertising business and explore innovation and expansion into new platforms,” said Rick Welday, president at AT&T AdWorks.
DISH Media Sales, which introduced addressable advertising in 2012, has seen substantial interest from advertisers. DISH currently serves targeted advertising on approximately 100 networks to more than 8 million households in the US through both the DISH and Sling TV platforms.
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