Xandr, AT&T’s advanced advertising company and Rakuten Advertising announce the expansion of their relationship with Xandr’s Global Supply Evangelism Team (GSET) and the adoption of Xandr’s Monetize SSP. With the adoption of Monetize SSP, premium inventory that sits within Rakuten Advertising’s unified portfolio across connected TV (CTV), digital video, and native will be available in the Xandr marketplace. In Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Greece and Poland, Xandr’s buyers will be offered CTV and video inventory across Rakuten Viki, Rakuten TV and Rakuten Viber. The portfolio will be promoted globally through GSET and have monetisation services and deals set up for buyers in-market on their behalf.

Rakuten TV is the single point of access for a wide portfolio of premium movies, entertainment, news, sports content and more for the entire family. It combines a TVOD, SVOD, free VOD and FAST (Free Advertising-based Streaming TV) offering in 43 European countries. Boasting 21.5 million monthly unique visitors, Rakuten TV’s CTV-first offering enables Xandr’s buyers to reach millions of cord cutting households across Europe who come together for hours of co-viewing.

Rakuten Viki offers primetime Asian entertainment to a worldwide audience with the ability to reach millions of millennials and young adults watching their favourite TV shows, dramas and movies. Rakuten Viber is one of the most popular messaging apps in Europe, providing free, simple, fast and encrypted messaging and calling.

“We’re excited to partner with Rakuten Advertising and bring another strong sell-side publisher offering to our buyers. Through GSET we are able to support Rakuten Advertising’s global monetisation and offer their inventory to our customers” said Ulrik Morell, VP, Global Supply Evangelism, Xandr. “With the advertising ecosystem facing many upcoming challenges, Xandr is proud to partner with a major global publisher who is focused on directly benefitting their marketers and agencies”.

“We always seek to align our partner opportunities to serve our customers’ best interests. Whilst we have a global network, it has always been important to us to operate through the open internet and ensure transparency with advertisers we work with,” adds James Collins, SVP - Media, Rakuten Advertising. “By partnering globally with Xandr and joining their marketplace we are able to offer our supply to in-demand partners. The Xandr marketplace also allows us to tailor outcomes, benefitting our goals and monetisation. Additionally, we are proud to partner with a company who prioritises a transparent ecosystem.”

The Global Supply Evangelism Team is a team of programmatic experts at Xandr, dedicated to servicing strategic publishers by extending their sales efforts to global markets. GSET exists to expertly promote a publisher's programmatic inventory with the goal of maximising ad spend. A unique addition to Xandr’s offering, the team provides a three-part service to publishers including in-market sales, monetisation services and marketing services.

Inventory will be available via Xandr’s Monetize SSP. Monetize SSP provides sellers with advanced controls to strategically grow their business and manage demand partners across all channels and formats.