FreeWheel Introduces Digital Integrated Ad Management Platform to Meet Evolving Needs of Over-the-Top (OTT) Publishers

LONDON – FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, and the provider of the industry’s leading video advertising software, today announced advancements in its digital integrated ad management platform for video publishers in Europe (former StickyAds platform), which includes the extension of its partnership with Nielsen into EMEA, as well as holistic ad decisioning across sales channels to meet the increasingly complex needs of OTT programmers and other premium video publishers.

The new, integrated ad management platform is purpose-built for the growing number of digital premium publishers who monetise their inventory via both direct sold and programmatic channels. The platform also offers direct access to programmatic demand through over 40 server-to-server DSP connections, or through FreeWheel Media for publishers who prefer managed service media sales support.

Since a publisher typically uses one tech platform to manage its direct sold inventory, and another platform – namely an SSP – to manage and access programmatic demand from open exchanges and DSPs, this can lead to frictions between the two sales channels.  FreeWheel’s digital integrated ad management platform seeks to eliminate this friction by allowing publishers to holistically consider the full pool of demand and act accordingly to balance both advertising results and yield.

The platform’s new capabilities also include an integration of the Nielsen Marketing Cloud (NMC)—Nielsen’s industry-leading omnichannel marketing technology. Publishers can analyse, build and target audiences across OTT and digital video, allowing advertisers to harness the power of data across emerging forms of TV. Nielsen segment data will be available within the FreeWheel platform to mutual customers across Europe, beginning in five key markets, including the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

“As new viewing patterns continue to transform the global television landscape, Nielsen and FreeWheel are both committed to facilitating audience-based, cross-channel advertising that is accessible, scalable and measurable,” said Matt O’Grady, Chief Commercial Officer, International, Nielsen Media. “We rolled out our Nielsen Marketing Cloud integration with FreeWheel in the States, allowing publishers to use advanced data to improve targeting and drive better results.  We look forward to extending this same innovation to FreeWheel’s European clients with great success.”

The platform is especially well-suited to the needs of OTT publishers, who comprise a growing segment of the video marketplace in Europe.  OTT represents an estimated 28% of total video ad views in EMEA. (Source: FreeWheel, Q1 2019 Video Marketplace Report) Since OTT providers often have additional advertising constraints and restrictions akin to traditional TV advertising, such as commercial break patterns and guaranteed delivery commitments, programmatic trading can be difficult on some platforms. FreeWheel’s digital integrated ad management platform minimises the friction of programmatic trading through sophisticated troubleshooting tools and support for new transaction types, including Programmatic Guaranteed.

“New viewing platforms have created a more fragmented and complex ecosystem.  With the right solutions, however, we see this as an opportunity, not an obstacle.  Our integrated ad management platform was built to help publishers prosper in this new TV environment,” said Thomas Bremond, General Manager, International, at FreeWheel.  “Importantly, our platform gives publishers complete control over how they expose their premium inventory to the buyside. Because of this, our platform can now be used by a wider range of video publishers to maximise yield, including OTT providers and other premium video suppliers who must balance a complex series of decisions before an ad is served.”

FreeWheel’s digital integrated ad management platform is currently available to publishers in UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. In Q4 2019, new partnerships and features will be rolled out, including the ability to leverage additional DMP integrations, for audience targeting and measurement.