News in brief: Viant Technology acquires IRIS.TV, The Guardian to halt X content posting, and Alliant sold to private equity.

Viant Acquires IRIS.TV

California-based programmatic advertising platform Viant Technology has announced the acquisition of CTV content data platform IRIS.TV for an undisclosed sum. IRIS.TV will continue to operate as an independent division of the combined firm, with executives stating that the move would serve to expand IRIS.TV’s content identification capabilities. Coupled with the double-header of acquisition announcements yesterday, the industry is seeing a pre-Christmas boom in M&A activity… 

The Guardian to halt X content posting

UK news publication The Guardian will no longer post content from its official channels to Elon Musk-owned social media platform X. In a statement, The Guardian posted, “This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism[...] X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.” Concurrently, X-alternative Bluesky has increased its user base by 700,000 in the week since the US election, according to compiled statistics from its API.

Alliant sold to private equity

… And to bookend today’s digest with another acquisition, marketing data and analytics provider Alliant has been purchased by Philadelphia-based private equity firm Inverness Graham. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed, however a statement released by Inverness Graham claims that the combined outfit will be seeking further acquisitions within the marketing data, analytics, and advertising technology sector.