Verve Group, a global brand performance ad platform, today announced the acquisition of Nexstar Inc.’s digital video advertising technology platform, formerly known as LKQD. The digital video platform reaches over 200 million unique monthly users in the US across desktop, mobile, in-app, and connected TV devices and provides Verve Group with sophisticated video advertising capabilities as it continues to scale its business following other acquisitions this year, including Verve, PubNative, and Platform161.

Nexstar Inc.’s digital video platform connects hundreds of premium publishers, such as Samsung, Newsy, and Viacom, with top advertisers and demand-side platforms globally, including The Trade Desk, Adobe, and Amobee. The acquisition broadens Verve Group’s already robust portfolio of advertising services, while also giving it unique access to CTV and OTT inventory — an area of rapid growth within the digital advertising ecosystem.

According to eMarketer, CTV ad spending in the US will more than double to over $18 billion by 2024. With nearly 80% of LKQD’s video platform business in 2020 coming from CTV and OTT advertising spend, Verve Group is making a clear push towards these new and expanding markets as it builds a larger and stronger global technology stack.

“The acquisition of Nexstar Inc.’s digital video advertising platform follows several other strategic acquisitions this year, as Verve Group continues to add new technologies, top talent, and scale its business lines through organic means,” said Sameer Sondhi, Chief Revenue Officer at Verve Group. “We’re excited to provide our large global publisher base with some of the key features and products that come with this video advertising technology, including ad serving, mediation, programmatic auctions, detailed reporting, and a unique combination of internal and external quality measurement and enforcement tools.”

In addition to the digital video technology stack, nearly a dozen employees from Nexstar Inc. will join the Verve Group team. This includes members of the SaaS sales, product, and engineering teams.