AMCX AMC Networks Inc

By Sahil Patel 

AT&T Inc.'s efforts to build a TV advertising business fueled by its trove of consumer data got a boost with new deals that enlist national commercial time on TV networks it doesn't own.

Under the new arrangements, marketers will be able to use tools offered by AT&T's Xandr advertising unit to plan for and buy commercial time on networks operated by Walt Disney Co., whose portfolio includes ABC and the cable channel Freeform, and AMC Networks Inc. They also will be able to buy ad inventory from networks such as CNN, TNT and TBS, which are part of AT&T's WarnerMedia division.

Xandr's new deals center on national TV inventory sold by the networks. It also has an addressable TV business, which sells targeted ads within the two minutes of commercial time per hour controlled by AT&T's DirecTV on the networks it carries.

Advertisers will be able to buy inventory from participating networks through Xandr's Invest tool. Xandr won't actually control or sell the outside companies' commercial time, according to a company spokesman.

Executives from AMC, Disney and WarnerMedia said they would make almost all of their national TV inventory available through Xandr -- with a few exceptions, such as high-profile events like WarnerMedia's telecasts of NCAA March Madness games.

"We're looking at this platform as a way to accelerate data-driven linear buys," said Laura Nelson, senior vice president of cross portfolio solutions for Disney's ad sales group.

Xandr is the linchpin for AT&T's efforts to build a so-called advanced TV advertising business, which aims to mimic how advertisers buy and target custom audience segments through digital ad giants such as Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google. Xandr builds similar audience groups based on customer data from AT&T's wireless and broadband businesses, DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse, anonymously aggregated into segments such as homeowners or those in the market for a new car.

Xandr's ad tools include Invest, a "demand-side platform" that lets ad buyers access ad inventory; Monetize, a "supply-side platform" through which publishers offer their ad inventory; and Community, a marketplace that connects both tools and facilitates transactions.

AT&T last fall acquired Clypd, which worked with TV networks on data-based ad targeting and automated advertising, and integrated it into Xandr's platform.

Xandr and its new TV partners said the new deals will give marketers the ability to access a wider pool of national TV commercial time, all in one place.

"It's hard for marketers to define a single, uniform audience segment and transact against that across multiple publishers on TV," said Dan Aversano, senior vice president of ad innovation and programmatic solutions for WarnerMedia's ad sales group.

Xandr has found it slow-going in convincing other TV companies to open up their national, traditional TV inventory, in part due to competitive reasons, according to industry insiders. Other TV powers are also interested in setting up data-driven advanced TV products.

AT&T last year asked Viacom Inc., which since merged with CBS Corp. to form ViacomCBS Inc., to buy advanced ad products and sales services from Xandr during carriage talks between the companies. A Xandr spokesman declined to comment on the outcome of those talks.

Ms. Nelson said working with competitors has become common in advertising, citing Disney's relationships with technology giants like Facebook that have their own ad businesses. Executives from the participating networks added that they have ensured all ad sellers would be on equal footing on Xandr.

"We work with many partners in the space that also compete with us in the marketplace," she said. "It's something we are comfortable with."

Write to Sahil Patel at sahil.patel@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 11, 2020 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)

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