Extending a bridge to the over-the-top world for local and regional advertisers, Tegna has launched Premion, a new division of Tegna Media.
Premion, Tegna said, supplies a platform that enables local and regional advertisers to buy inventory on premium long-form content, and gets there by aggregating advertising inventory from more than 80 sources. Possible candidates include Roku, which has seen advertising become a significant contributor to its revenue mix, as well as Sling TV, Xumo, and major TV programmers that support OTT and authenticated video apps such as NBC Sports, FX and Discovery.
Ads supported by the platform will be either 15- or 30-seconds in length, are fast-forward disabled, and placed in pre-roll and mid-roll pods. Premion said its national rollout is underpinned by a sales force of more than 700, and can connect more than 14,000 local and regional advertising clients to the new platform.
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“The OTT market is growing rapidly and channels are proliferating,” Jim Wilson, president of Premion, said, calling the offering a “great addition to our broadcasting and digital portfolio.” “There’s an opportunity for Tegna [because] consumers are spending an increasing amount of their time watching OTT.”
He said the Premion will bring scale and a one-stop-shop for partners that are seeking opportunities to tap the regional and local ad market.
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Early on Premion is working with partners such as WideOrbit and Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) to enable its OTT platform, but will also seek out opportunities work with partners using a direct connection.
“Automation and programmatic is absolutely where we’re headed,” Wilson said, calling Premion’s target a “white space opportunity.”
Premion’s commercial launch follows trials and pilots conducted in July in Dallas and Houston.
Wilson said the new platform can get campaigns up and running between three and five days, or as little as 48 hours, if need be.
