Comcast’s FreeWheel is launching a unified decisioning capability for buyers and sellers to transact across both direct sold and programmatic advertising. The capability was piloted last year and is now fully operational with more functionality.
NBCUniversal and The Trade Desk, a demand-side platform, are both using FreeWheel’s unified decisioning. FreeWheel said it built programmatic capabilities, which it said are traditionally handled by supply-side platforms, into its core software platform.
“At NBCUniversal, we enable marketers to reach key audiences across all screens with one simple solution powered by our One Platform offering,” said Krishan Bhatia, executive vice president of business operations and strategy at NBCUniversal Advertising and Partnerships, in a statement. “By incorporating FreeWheel’s unified decisioning into One Platform, we’re now able to combine direct sold and programmatic capabilities into one, making it even easier for clients to access all of our premium video inventory in whatever way works best for their business while allowing us to continue to improve the consumer experience. Since first incorporating this FreeWheel capability into our platform, we’ve seen 170% growth in programmatic video revenue, and we believe there is significantly more growth to come.”
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For DSPs like the The Trade Desk, FreeWheel’s platform should open access to additional inventory for advertisers. According to The Trade Desk, access to connected TV inventory increased 300% since using FreeWheel’s solution.
“FreeWheel’s technology brought the entire industry forward by implementing unified decisioning for connected TV,” said Brian Stempeck, chief strategy officer at The Trade Desk, in a statement. “For advertisers, this makes increased scale available on premium content. Publishers also benefit, as they now can make the best choice possible on who buys the ad. Connected TV is one of the fastest growing channels in our industry, and unified decisioning is a big win for every part of the ecosystem.”