Can a TV group from Luxembourg crack the US market for digital video advertising?

Last year, acquiring SpotX, pan-European RTL Group created Video Marketplace (VMP), an initiative to combine various source of online video ad inventory which its AdConnect sales house represents.

Now the outfit is doubling down on its US presence.

“(When) I stepped into the company we had 37 people  mostly in Europe,” says Stéphane Coruble, RTL AdConnect CEO, in this video interview with Beet.TV.

“Now we’re reaching 100 people across the world and we’ve been opening lots of new offices.”

Mostly, AdConnect’s expansion has happened in the UK, where many international brands bridge in to Europe through major ad agencies. But AdConnect also set up camp in New York a year and a half ago, and is now opening a Los Angeles office, Coruble says.

“The US market is very dynamic,” he adds. “Many of our legacy clients are based here in the US, and it’s important that we get discussions and partnerships with them. (We want) to discuss with companies based in LA, but also based in San Francisco, in the Valley – direct consumer brands. Very important for us, especially for the European market.”

AdConnect represents broadcaster VOD, including its group’s own, totalling ore than a billion monthly views, Coruble claims.

VMP accesses premium inventory across linear TV and VOD, built on SpotX and Smartclip, both of which RTL acquired in recent years in addition to VideoAmp and Clypd.

Coruble’s strategy seems to tap two trends we are seeing in the marketplace;

  • Around the world, operators are coming together in partnership, seeking scale to fight common media challenges against tech foes – but, whilst such partnerships are becoming commonplace in Europe and Latin America, they are as yet rarer in the US.
  • The ongoing rise of direct consumer brands, which eschew marketing and retail intermediaries to sell as ecommerce operators, continues to provide impetus to marketing tech firms, many of which are now chasing their custom.

This video is part of the Beet.TV preview series titled “The Road to Cannes.”  The series is sponsored by 4INFO. Please visit this page for additional segments. 

By Robert Andrews on    @robertandrews