LONDON, UK — In a week in which ad exchange operator Index Exchange announced a direct integration with TV ad-tech platform FreeWheel, the latter’s owner sees FreeWheel becoming a gateway for an array of TV ad buyers.
“When you’re an industry platform, then interoperability is really important,” James Rooke, President, Comcast Advertising, told me in this video interview with Beet.TV at The Future of TV Advertising Global conference in London.
“I always think about FreeWheel as the unifying point for all of that demand. Our responsibility is ensuring that we are able to aggregate all the demand that a publisher wants to compete in a unified ad decision.
“That demand will come from both directly sold places, but also programmatic demand.”
Partnering-Up
Index Exchange’s FreeWheel Integration Widens Access, Standards & Quality: Gardner
The tie-up between the two firms is seen as enhancing ad buyers’ access to premium inventory and diversifying demand sources for media owners.
It also allows for use of the OpenRTB 2.6 standard, which introduces more refined controls around TV ad pod placement.
Whether the demand comes from demand-side platforms like The Trade Desk, Google’s DV 360, Yahoo, or from other players such as Magnite, PubMatic, or Index Exchange, Rooke sees Comcast-owned FreeWheel as the unifying point.
By continuing to foster these kinds of partnerships, FreeWheel is aiming to simplify the tech stack for publishers, allowing them to work with whomever they want while ensuring that all competition occurs within a single ad decision.
“You will see continued announcements like this all in service of publishers being able to work with whom they want to,” Rooke says.
You’re watching Beet.TV coverage of The Future of TV Advertising Global 2023, presented by Index Exchange. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
