Fox Stations Jump Into Programmatic Pool

By Chris Ariens 

The Fox TV Stations group becomes the largest local broadcaster to commit to programmatic advertising sales. Fox, which has 28 stations in 17 markets covering 37 percent of U.S. homes, is partnering with WideOrbit, a technology platform that allows for advertising sales and management.

“Based on our tests over the last year, we are convinced that programmatic advertising will be a complementary additional sales channel for our stations,” said Jim Burke, President of Sales, for Fox TV stations, in a statement. “Opening a programmatic sales channel is a clear win for everyone involved in the media buying process and we’re proud to be the first network owned-and-operated group to offer it to our buying partners.”

WideOrbit already works with TV station groups including Meredith, Scripps, Raycom, TEGNA, Tribune, Graham Media and Gray; more than 750 stations in all.

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“FOX’s embrace of programmatic advertising shows that it is committed to setting up its stations to capitalize on new revenue opportunities and offering its customers robust solutions for making better audience targeting decisions and automating processes,” said Eric R. Mathewson, Founder and CEO of WideOrbit.

The new deal will allow Fox stations to offer programmatic advertising through WideOrbit’s Open Marketplace, allowing buyers to make automated purchases, as well as the Programmatic Direct platform which streamlines the multiple manual steps that go into the ad buying process. The stations will also implement CoreMedia Systems’ platform for direct response commercials (aka infomercials) so ad buyers can place those orders programmatically.

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