Discovery buys into OpenAP advanced advertising JV

Discovery, Inc. has signed on to become a minority owner of OpenAP, an advanced advertising joint venture run by Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS.

Discovery's decision to take partial ownership in the JV comes after the programmer last year integrated with OpenID and partnered on the launch of XPm, a cross-platform measurement framework. For OpenAP, the addition of Discovery should help grow the overall market for audience-based advertising and expand the scale of its services.

Discovery’s Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer, and Jim Keller, executive vice president of digital ad sales and advanced advertising, will both join OpenAP’s board of directors.

"Discovery is excited to take an active role shaping the future of advanced audience buying," said Keller in a statement. "Given our current momentum, influence and growth of audience-based sales, we believe Discovery can help further the work OpenAP has been doing to initiate meaningful change in the market."

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Discovery’s increased involvement with OpenAP raises the question of Turner’s return to the fold. Turner left the OpenAP venture in 2019 but the programmer is part of WarnerMedia, the AT&T division that is on track to merge with Discovery in the first half of 2022.

"Discovery has long been a pioneer of TV entertainment with its iconic portfolio of content and direct-to-consumer experiences people love. The last two years have demonstrated the force of change that can happen when we take an audience-first approach to reimagining TV advertising for media owners, advertisers and consumers alike," said OpenAP CEO David Levy in a statement. "We are grateful for the increased commitment Discovery is making to work alongside us on this journey of propelling further growth of the marketplace."

OpenAP said it expects half a billion in publisher-driven advertising sales to run through its platform in fiscal year 2022, up 140% year over year. Today, OpenAP works with more than 100 advertisers following the 2019 launch of the OpenAP Market.