The TV adtech category can be rough but but those in it have a lot of value.
Today, Mediaocean, an omnichannel orchestration platform for advertisers—essentially an ERP for ad deals that helps marketers, agencies, and others manage records, invoicing, and payments—announced its acquisition of Innovid, an ad server and dynamic creative optimization (DCO) company with a strong focus on CTV. The $500 million deal will take Innovid private once closed, following its SPAC IPO in late 2021.
Bill Wise, Co-Founder and CEO of Mediaocean, said in a press release: “Today’s advertising landscape needs independent technology companies who can provide a neutral alternative to Google and interoperate effectively across Big Tech platforms. Our Prisma business provides robust ad infrastructure to the world’s largest brands and agencies. Now Flashtalking plus Innovid will establish a premier independent ad tech business with a keen focus on creative and CTV.”
(Prisma is Mediaocean’s centralized platform for managing campaigns and clients’ ad investments across channels and platforms.)
The acquisition brings Innovid together with Mediaocean’s existing ad server and DCO offering, Flashtalking, giving Mediaocean greater insight and control over creative personalization, media delivery, measurement, and optimization. Pure speculation: this could lead to Flashtalking being phased out (as a brand/business) in favor of Innovid as the primary ad server and DCO solution, particularly given Innovid’s emphasis on CTV.
With the merger, Zvika Netter, CEO & Founder of Innovid, will lead the combined entity as CEO reporting to Wise.
Why This Matters:
Fragmentation is a key challenge in media buying today. A 2023 survey by StackAdapt and Advertiser Perceptions revealed that managing multi-channel campaigns is difficult due to factors like measuring goals across platforms, creating unique assets for different channels, and consolidating reporting.
Mediaocean’s acquisition of Innovid and Flashtalking tries to address these challenges. The company claims the deal will empower advertisers with greater control over data and decision-making, more flexibility in allocating ad spend, and improved tools and workflows for efficient media investments.
This acquisition also jumps on the current antitrust chaos surrounding Google. Mediaocean is positioning itself as an alternative to Google’s Campaign Manager, especially given the potential for increased regulatory pressure and a new administration that may be less friendly to Big Tech. For advertisers seeking to operate outside Google’s ecosystem, Mediaocean is effectively saying, “Here we are.”
Experts React:
The deal has been positively received by adtech Twitter/X:
Our Take:
This seems like a good buy for Mediaocean, helping it further its ad server and DCO business, especially in CTV. For Innovid, a solid exit after its stock has been down for the last several years.
