Time Inc. has inked a deal to acquire and Viant, an ad-tech vendor that will bring in a data-driven programmatic platform.
Time, home to brands and media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and People, said it will combine its own premium content, subscriber data, and advertising inventory with Viant’s cloud-delivered, first-party data and programmatic capabilities.
Founded in 1999, Viant owns and operates digital ad technology and media companies such as Specific Media, Vindico, Myspace and Xumo. Of that group, Xumo has built an OTT service (subscription required) that streams ad-supported “channels” focused to a range of connected TV platforms from content partners such as Time Inc., Condé Nast Entertainment, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, PopSugar, Mitú Network, Machinima, TYT Network and The Onion. Xumo’s ad-based OTT service launched last fall on Panasonic and Vizio TVs, and has been gearing up for debuts on TVs from LG Electronics and Funai Electric, which makes and distributes TVs under the Sanyo, Philips and Magnavox brands in North America.
“This acquisition is game changing for us,” Time Inc. chairman and CEO Joe Ripp, said in a statement. “Marketers are selecting media partners that have either data-driven capabilities or premium content; we will be able to deliver both in a single platform, and will stand apart from those that offer just one or the other. In other words, we will be able to deliver advertisers’ messages targeted to optimal audiences across all types of devices, along with the ability to measure ROI.”
“Over a year ago we launched a people-based platform with the Viant Advertising Cloud. With over 1 billion global registered users connected to their households and devices, we knew our data and technology story was solid,” added Tim Vanderhook, Viant’s CEO. “The combination of Time Inc. and Viant is all about the marriage of first party data and premium content.”
