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OpenAP, the advanced advertising platform and consortium that pulls together inventory from most major broadcast and cable TV networks, is pushing further into its efforts to unify the TV marketplace with a supply-side platform rolling out this month.
The new platform provides advertisers access to available linear inventory from all of its TV publisher members—including AMC Networks, Fox Corp., NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS. Primarily, OpenAP offers buyside tools that will allow media buyers to plan and buy audiences across networks from a single place, the company said Monday.
The launch represents an expansion of the existing OpenAP Market. The original marketplace gave advertisers a more streamlined way to facilitate audience buys across networks. This new program offers automation and optimization capabilities that more closely resemble the tools that digital ad platforms have long relied upon. The platform also allows brands and agencies to conduct the buying process through their own existing systems, as well as seamless use of their own data and tracking tools.
Omnicom Media Group is on board
That buyside platform’s first major agency integration is already set: Omnicom Media Group. An integration between OpenAP and Omnicom’s in-house platform, called the Omni marketing operating system, lets the agency execute real-time sourcing of inventory while centralizing its media buying. Testing of the integration will roll-out across Omnicom Media Group’s agencies through the first and second quarter, the company said.
The effort highlights the continued efforts to unify TV advertising buying through the consortium. That effort has steadily grown as marketers push for a less onerous advertising buying process on linear TV. Reducing the friction associated these buys also promises to eliminate wasteful ad spend.
Fine-tuning advanced ad buys, planning
“Making our technology interoperable with existing buyside tools and providing this granular level of inventory awareness is a direct result of the feedback we received from our Advertiser Advisory Board and agency partners,” OpenAP CEO David Levy said in a statement. “By enabling this new way to buy alongside agency planning capabilities, we are ultimately fueling a more vibrant ecosystem for advanced advertising. We’re grateful for our publishers and partners at OMG who have remained firm in their commitment of investing in and building more sophisticated ways to buy and sell premium TV advertising.”
It’s the latest push from OpenAP to fine-tune and continue streamlining advanced advertising as consumers push into streaming and as marketers demand more simplicity. OpenAP struck a partnership with iSpot.TV in July to add in more cross-platform measurement offerings and has been steadily adding new members to its consortium to cement its position as the largest advanced advertising platform in the U.S.
The move comes as some agencies set up their own pipes to position themselves as crucial partners connecting the buy and sell sides. Omnicom has been working with supply-side platforms to build out a marketplace with favorably negotiated rates, Adweek has previously reported.
As part of the deal with Omnicom, Omni’s preferred demand-side platform, VideoAmp, is now integrated within the platform. OpenAP will build out additional integrations as requested, the company said.
“Connecting Omni to OpenAP marks a significant step towards automation of traditional TV by bringing more speed, efficiency and visibility to TV inventory, enabling more flexibility and accountability in this medium,” Matthew Kramer, the managing director of advanced advertising at Omnicom Media Group North America, said in a statement.
