Comcast’s Universal Ads is partnering with LiveRamp.
At least, that’s what we started writing—until we did a double take and realized the partnership is actually with Ramp, the all-in-one financial automation platform. Wait, what?
Ramp helps businesses streamline corporate card management, expenses, and bill payments to save time, cut costs, and optimize cash flow. Ah, interesting!
With this partnership, Ramp’s 30,000 customers will gain access to ad inventory—including A+E, AMC Networks, DIRECTV, Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Roku, TelevisaUnivision, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Xumo—through Universal Ads’ ad-buying platform, with the integration now live in Ramp. The press release calls this the “first in a line of demand-side integrations” by Universal Ads, aimed at expanding opportunities for advertisers looking to tap into the benefits of premium video.
Why This Matters:
Universal Ads launched in January, timed to CES, as a “one-stop TV advertising platform” designed to connect top media companies and make it easier for “advertisers of all sizes” to buy premium CTV inventory. The goal is to simplify CTV ad buying for any advertiser while also helping publishers and sellers tap into growing demand from SMB and mid-market advertisers.
Now, with this partnership, Universal Ads is following through on that mission. Most of Ramp’s customers are tech-savvy mid-market companies, though they also serve some larger clients. Either way, this move is about democratizing access to CTV advertising.
As we noted in January, programmatic access needs to expand and become more accessible for CTV to grow. Currently, only 20% of premium video is transacted programmatically, according to FreeWheel, largely due to the complexity and safeguards in place to protect both brands and viewers. Simplifying access to premium inventory could drive significant ad spend while enabling smaller advertisers to take advantage of CTV’s reach and targeting.
Experts React:
A few reactions on X from execs at Universal Ads and Ramp:
Our Take:
Who will Universal Ads integrate with next? AIrtable? Shopify? (We’re going to keep guessing.)
Anyway, the Lord was right. See #2. CTV advertising for SMBs and midmarket has been one of the year’s most interesting stories and it’s only March.
