Microsoft’s purchase of Xandr from AT&T in late 2021 might have looked like an embrace of third-party ad tech. But while parts of the Xandr tech are considered valuable by Microsoft, the future of Xandr as an SSP integrated with thousands of outside publishers is in doubt.
Netflix explores building its own ad server. Also: Tech companies continue trying to influence the legal definition of privacy.
Comcast-owned FreeWheel announced new identity integrations to bring the buy and sell sides of the TV ecosystem together. Its platform now supports ID solutions from Blockgraph, LiveRamp, TransUnion, Experian, Merkle and OpenAP, which can be overlaid with publishers’ and advertisers’ first- and third-party data sets for more accurate cross-screen targeting and measurement.
FreeWheel, the ad tech arm of Comcast, announced an addition to its media activation platform Strata that’ll allow buyers to hit incremental audiences with their CTV buys. This marks the first time Comcast’s inventory is “truly available programmatically,” said FreeWheel’s chief product officer Jon Whitticom.
