Sinclair Broadcast Group is partnering with audience data platform Tru Optik and ad software company ZypMedia to offer an OTT marketplace for local advertisers.
The new product aims to provide local advertisers with third-party demographic data and first-party advertiser data that can be used in planning ad campaigns across OTT services and connected TVs.
“With the amount of time spent watching ad-supported television shifting more and more towards OTT and CTV, it was inevitable for local advertisers to start focusing on expanding into this landscape,” said Andre Swanston, CEO and co-founder of Tru Optik, in a statement. “Partnering with ZypMedia, which is one of the fastest growing platforms, and Sinclair, the largest owner of local TV stations in the U.S., empowers local advertisers with the ability to buy targeted, measureable, brand safe premium video inventory—a huge win on all sides.”
“The Tru Optik/ZypMedia partnership is a big deal because of the growing need for small and midsized businesses to efficiently reach local consumers across Connected TV,” said Rob Weisbord, chief revenue officer for Sinclair, in a statement. “No one understands the needs of local advertisers better than the local sales reps serving them. At Sinclair, we are dedicated to providing our sales reps with the tools and capabilities required to best serve advertisers in their markets. This partnership will allow Sinclair to leverage more targeting and measurement across more CTV inventory than any other local market sales team in the U.S.”
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Fellow broadcast groups like Tegna, through its recent investment in Vizbee, have also been going after the OTT advertising space.
"Vizbee's innovative technology will help Premion, Tegna's first-of-its-kind local ad network for OTT content, better partner with OTT programming partners to help them grow audience, increase viewing, and create more valuable inventory on connected TVs," said Ed Busby, senior vice president of strategy at Tegna, in a statement. "In addition, it creates a valuable source of viewing data which, in combination with our partnerships with Madhive and 4Info, will enable Premion to leverage the most comprehensive OTT targeting data set in the industry."