ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the US/Canadian digital advertising space. In this week’s edition: Tremor Video rebrands; SpotX to support IAB’s ads.txt; AppNexus and Rubicon launch Prebid.org; Vistar Media expands into Canada; Krush and Frequency Networks partner; and Thunder acquires Adacus.

Tremor Video rebrands to Telaria; Integrates deeper with The Trade Desk

Tremor Video, a video-optimisation software company, has rebranded as 'Telaria'. The rebrand, including a new corporate logo and brand platform, follows the news of Taptica acquiring Tremor’s DSP, so the new Telaria platform can focus solely on their sell-side programmatic software platform for video and connected TV/OTT.

Mark Zagorski, CEO, Telaria, tells ExchangeWire: “As we looked ahead to our future as an independent and transparent sell-side platform for premium video, it was clear that we needed to establish a new identity that represented this focus. We are a nimble, fast-moving, forward-thinking, technology-first company and our new brand, Telaria, reflects our belief that advertising technology needs to be fast and frictionless in order to lift clients towards their goals.”

Mark Zagorski, CEO, Telaria

Furthering their connected TV/OTT strategy, they have also announced a deeper integration with The Trade Desk, a demand-side platform, for access to premium programmatic connected television (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) advertising inventory. With this integration, buyers of video advertising will now be able to purchase high-quality inventory on publishers like DISH, Sling TV, A+E Networks, and Bloomberg Media.

“Smart TVs, connected TV devices, and OTT services have changed the way consumers view content, making video everywhere a tangible reality. We are excited to work with The Trade Desk to help advertisers understand the value of CTV, and how to reach the 18-34-year-old audience, who are leading the shift from traditional TV to IP-enabled programming”, said Katie Evans, COO of Tremor Video. “Reaching viewers in their living rooms with personalised ads via programmatic channels is key for brands and buyers as they address the increasing fragmentation of audiences. Programmatic television allows for deeper targeting solutions that will increase the value of that ad across the ecosystem.”

SpotX announces support for IAB's ads.txt

SpotX, a video ad serving company, has adopted IAB’s ads.txt initiative, which is an industry effort to enable content owners to declare who is authorised to sell their inventory, and eliminate the ability to profit from counterfeit inventory in the open digital advertising ecosystem. By supporting ads.txt, SpotX is helping to ensure all inventory available to buyers on its platform comes from owned-and-operated publishers, or authorised premium video resellers with the contractual rights to resell the inventory.

Allen Dove, CTO, SpotX

"Ads.txt is a giant leap forward for the industry and a tool that can help end the black market trade for inventory. Allocating the resources to integrate and manage ads.txt files, and monitor sites where publishers have reseller relationships, is a small amount of work for the benefit it will bring, and we're seeing more and more commit to the initiative. SpotX employs a variety of methods and technologies to ensure buyers are accessing high-quality, brand-safe inventory, and is working closely with our publishers to foster adoption of the ads.txt initiative”, Allen Dove, CTO, SpotX, tells ExchangeWire.

While the adoption of ads.txt may have seemed slow, SpotX is now seeing a much more rapid uptake of integration. And, to further this initiative, they are also adopting the IAB Tech Lab’s ads.txt technical solution, which provides a secure, text-file based mechanism for publishers and distributors to publicly declare the companies they authorise to sell their digital inventory.

AppNexus & Rubicon launch Prebid.org

Two long-time ad tech industry players, AppNexus and Rubicon, have launched Prebid.org, an independent organisation to help develop and promote open-source header-bidding solutions, as well as other open-source tools to drive publisher monetisation. Prebid.org is the result of a collaboration between industry partners, and open to all parties who advocate for unbiased and efficient monetisation solutions and a digital advertising ecosystem that thrives through fair competition.

To join, partners commit to a Code of Conduct, which are the agreed upon principles that header-bidding wrappers should operate within, including header-bidding wrapper mechanics, data and transparency, and user experience.

“The formation of Prebid.org marks a crucial step forward in the push for industry-wide adoption of open-source header-bidding technologies. Today’s announcement demonstrates a collaborative commitment to buyers, sellers, and the advertising ecosystem as a whole as we continue to blaze this trail of sharing and openness in an effort to promote continued growth and monetisation opportunities for all parties”, said Tom Kershaw, chief technology officer, Rubicon Project, and a director of Prebid.org.

“A fragmented header-bidding landscape poses a great risk to the industry. Rather than independently competing, duplicating efforts, and wasting resources, we can push for fair competition and better results as a team. The collaboration around Prebid.org by industry partners has been incredible, showing it to be the pragmatic path forward”, said Michael Richardson, product line manager, AppNexus, and chairman of Prebid.org.

As an independent organisation, it aims to encourage support, development, and adoption of Prebid solutions (client-side wrapper, Prebid.js, server-side header bidding, Prebid Server, Prebid Mobile, Prebid Video, and Prebid Native) within the industry, as well as guidelines for best practices and fair market competition.

Vistar Media expands into Canada

Vistar Media, a geospatial advertising platform, is growing internationally by expanding operations into Toronto, Canada.

Scott Mitchell, Sales Director, Vistar Media

Continuing their growth in the digital-out-of-home (DOOH) industry, they have appointed Scott Mitchell, previously from Yahoo, as sales director and he will be responsible for client accounts, business development, and leading operations in Canada.

“I'm excited to lead Vistar's expansion efforts into Canada, and address increasing interest in out-of- home opportunities, specifically for this market”, Scott Mitchell, sales director, Vistar Media, tells ExchangeWire. “Canada is a natural fit, given interest from trading desk partners where there is large demand for improved ways to target and measure digital out-of-home and mobile campaigns, as well as from media owners, who want a better way to monetise their inventory and support new revenue streams.”

Vistar is launching into the Canadian market with several partnerships in place with key DOOH networks, including Rouge Media, ZOOM Media, and Captivate, with several more in the pipeline for Q4.

Krush Media partners with Frequency Networks

Krush Media, a digital advertising company based in Dayton, Ohio, has partnered with Frequency Networks, an internet video platform for cable, satellite, CTV, and mobile operators, to help brands and agencies secure quality ad inventory to run alongside premium video content. With this partnership, Krush will connect media brands with available ad inventory and enable them to run their campaigns across Frequency’s network of leading content providers. This will also help Frequency’s publisher and operator partners monetise their inventory across devices and apps.

Brian Faust, Co-founder, President & CFO, Krush Media

Brian Faust, co-founder, president, and CFO of Krush Media, tells ExchangeWire: "Delivering an impactful advertising campaign to large and varied audience segments is more complicated than ever before. Brands struggle to engage consumers as media channels continue to proliferate and new technology makes it possible for viewers to consume content how, where, and when they like. To combat this, many agencies are investing in sophisticated partnerships that allow them to unlock new insight into their audiences' content journey – and that's what is driving our partnership with Frequency. With our ad targeting capabilities, and access to first-party data, we're able to take the best available cable, satellite, CTV, OTT, and mobile app inventory from Frequency's network of leading content providers and bring it to advertisers. This allows advertisers to run highly targeted ads that reach new audiences across an evolving ecosystem of devices, platforms, and networks.

"Our partnership with Frequency is the latest in what we hope to be many more successful business development initiatives to come that will further support our commitment to delivering high-quality content on trusted channels."

Thunder acquires Adacus

Creative Management Platform (CMP) company, Thunder, has acquired Adacus, an AI and machine-learning company with a predictive creative targeting and analytics platform, to now provide the market with a level of creative attribution and creative targeting that was previously impossible.

Victor Wong, CEO, Thunder

The acquisition brings new capabilities to Thunder CMP that allow marketers to interpret and act on the context, audience, and creative elements that drive campaign performance. Some of the new capabilities now include: creative multi-touch attribution; cross-device identity matching; natural language processing for contextual personalisation; a product recommendation engine; and predictive creative capabilities.

"With Adacus, Thunder now has the most comprehensive creative management platform – offering creative production, trafficking, targeting, testing, and analytics across multiple channels. As a marketer, you can no longer just produce and flight, or test and target, which you've always been able to do on your own. Using artificial intelligence, you must be able to get insights back on how to optimise the number of messages to run, the frequency to show them, and how narrow or wide to make your audiences for your messages. This is what AI-powered analytics and targeting can do for you and Adacus enables us to offer our customers” ,Victor Wong, CEO, Thunder, tells ExchangeWire.