Turner and broadcast group Tegna are investing in Vizbee, a cross-platform casting and data company co-founded by former Conviva CEO Darren Feher and Prashanth Pappu.
"As we continue to shape the future of television, Vizbee's focus on fan engagement as well as data and advertising will help us grow our OTT efforts from both a business and technology standpoint," said Jeremy Legg, Turner CTO, in a statement.
Vizbee's universal casting and household device graph is built to allow content owners to segment OTT viewers and reach them through mobile marketing channels with "tap-to-TV" campaigns.
"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."
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Vizbee's continuity platform is already in deployment with subscription and ad-supported OTT brands like TNT, TBS, EPIX, and PGA.
This is the second investment related to ad-supported OTT that Tegna has announced this week. Tegna is making a strategic investment in ad-supported streaming service Tubi TV in order to extend its position in the OTT space. Through the deal, Tegna’s OTT ad network Premion will expand its existing relationship with Tubi TV.