TV

DirecTV expanded its stake in addressable TV ad platform Invidi on Wednesday. It’s now the majority owner.

Mediaocean just spent $500 million to merge Innovid with Flashtalking and create an antidote to what it sees as the bias of walled garden buying platforms. (Ahem, Google.)

Is the marketing funnel as we know it officially dead? Variations of that eternal question were posed over and over again to panelists at Paramount Advertising’s Performance Now Summit in New York City on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Roku became the latest streaming company to unveil a self-serve ad platform. Roku Ads Manager, as it’s called, is part of Roku’s bid to reach new CTV buyer demand.

While there are plenty of reasons for political ad buyers to be cautious about CTV, streaming media has one major selling point: programmatic targeting.

The broadcaster-backed joint industry committee certified iSpot as a national currency. The JIC already certified Nielsen’s other competitors – VideoAmp and ComScore – in April.

Hyundai returns to the Olympics as a national advertiser and the presenting sponsor of the USA women’s soccer team – with a new ad campaign to show for it.

Investor, industry veteran and former SpotX CEO Mike Shehan returns from the ad tech sidelines to join the C-suite at Telly, a startup that gives away free TVs in exchange for viewer data.

Smokeless fire pit brand Breeo is ready to make TV an even bigger piece of its marketing strategy after trying Tatari’s new TV planning tool. Breeo was one of a handful of clients that beta tested the product before Tatari formally announced it on Wednesday. It was made generally available earlier this month.

HyphaMetrics Co-Founder President Joanna Drews is resuming the role of CEO after Chris Wilson stepped down late last week.