Having raised $270 million from an IPO in 2021, ad verification company Integral Ad Science (IAS) is continuing an acquisition trail designed to accelerate key growth areas.

The company has acquired Context, a Paris-based digital content classification company. Here is is the press release.

In this video interview with Beet.TV, IAS CEO Lisa Utzschneider explains where the acquisition fits in.

Building the classification stack

Context, formerly Reminiz, offers software to analyze and classify video content. This enables the categorisation of videos at scale, using IAB’s taxonomy.

Context can identify celebrities, sports events, brand logos, objects, explicit content and places, all available through an API.

The deal comes after IAS in September launched its own system for classifying TikTok videos, and after it acquired Publica, a CTV ads server platform, for $220 million in cash and stock.

Introducing IAS pre-bid brand safety on TikTok

“Video is the future, and Context only enables us to amplify our current contextual solutions,” Utzschneider says,.

“With the acquisition of Context, it only provides greater sophistication to enhance our current technology and also enables us to scale the existing technology.”

A new dawn

For IAS’ CEO, it is part of a three-pronged approach to 2022:

  1. “All things programmatic and continuing to invest in our contextual targeting solutions programmatically.”
  2. “Cracking the code (for brand safety and suitability) in the live feeds of social platforms.”
  3. “Connected TV. With our acquisition of Publica, that will enable us to disrupt in programmatic CTV.”

IAS is trading on the Nasdaq above its summer 2021 opening price.

By Robert Andrews on    @robertandrews