NBCUniversal said it made a strategic investment in ad tech company tvScientific and that the two companies will launch Peacock Ad Manager, a self-service ad buying platform in the second half of 2022.
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Peacock Ad Manager is designed to combine the scale of Peacock AX with precision audience and geo gratings and built in performance measurement, the companies said.
“We are excited to partner with tvScientific to make Peacock AX available to a much broader set of marketers and have them benefit from the brand and sales lift that only NBCUniversal can provide,” said Krishan Bhatia, president and chief business officer at NBCUniversal.
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“Peacock AX has been driving business results for the largest global brands, and now with the launch of Peacock Ad Manager, millions of performance advertisers, local advertisers, and small and medium-sized companies can more easily access premium CTV to grow their businesses. This partnership will allow us to unlock advanced targeting, performance insights, and attribution for the many advertisers who don’t have existing DSP relationships.”
Using the new platform, marketers will be able to enter a budget, choose a target audience and campaign goals, upload creative and measure audience delivery and campaign outcomes.
Comcast, NBCU’s parent, announced on Thursday that Peacock added 4 million paid subscribers during the first quarter when it streamed the Super Bowl and Olympics, and the hours of engagement increased 25%. Revenue rose to $472 million, up from $91 million a year ago.
“As the CTV market continues to grow, we are at a unique inflection point in the industry," said Jason Fairchild, co-founder and CEO of tvScientifc. "Advertisers can now harness the awesome power of TV advertising and measure the actual ROI on their CTV advertising investment at a granular level with our self-service platform, comparable to search and social media channels. This opens up the CTV market to millions of search and social advertisers that have historically been on the TV sidelines. We are thrilled to partner with NBCUniversal and, together, drive meaningful outcomes for brands and apps of all sizes.”■
