Ad tech company Tremor International is investing $25 million in VIDAA, the smart TV operating system subsidiary of Chinese set maker Hisense Co.
Tremor International said its goal is to grow VIDAA, making it a bigger player in both the competitive TV OS category and the growing CTV marketplace.
The deal will make Tremor International’s Unruly the exclusive supply side platform for VIDAA in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia. VIDAA will also use Tremor International’s Spearad ad server.
Hisense is extending Tremor International's exclusive deal to share VIDAA’s automatic content recognition viewing data for global measurement and targeting.
“Our strategic partnership and mutual vision with VIDAA is rare in the ad tech marketplace, and we believe it provides Tremor with cutting-edge capabilities in the CTV ecosystem,” said Ofer Druker, CEO of Tremor International.
The two companies have worked together since October 2021.
"VIDAA’s assets enable us to better assist advertisers in reaching desired audiences and measuring the success of their campaigns through ACR data, now coupled with exclusive monetization of VIDAA’s premium content library and massive media platform in the US and globally," said Druker. "We are very proud of the strength and depth of our relationship, and of the trust they have placed in our platform and team as part of the foundation of their global growth."
The VIDAA operating system comes pre-installed on set manufactured by Hisense, including TV under the Toshiba brand. Hisense and other manufacturers expert to distribute 70 million smart TVs globally over the next five years.
"To execute our vision to create and promote VIDAA, a leading smart TV operating system and streaming platform in the growing connected TV ecosystem, we needed a complementary partner who will enable monetization, while providing added value to VIDAA’s OEM partners," said Hisense chair Lan Lin. "After reviewing the options in the market, we chose to build a partnership with Tremor International as we strongly believe that its technology stack and global reach can offer the best solution to enable our vision and support our expansion."
“In Tremor International, we have a team stacked with CTV experts and a global solution that empowers us to get the most out of our strategy,” added Guy Edri, president of VIDAA. “Now we are looking to the future of our business and believe that Tremor International, and its subsidiaries – the Unruly SSP and Spearad ad server – can provide the strength and versatility we need for our evolution as a leading CTV operating system and streaming platform in the era of the connected TV.”
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Tremor intends to fund the investment utilizing existing cash resources. ■
