Moving beyond smartphones and tablets, Opera Mediaworks introduced AdMarvel, an ad network for internet-connected TVs that brings together an ad exchange, ad serving and ad management functionalities.
“A connected TV looks a lot like a tablet computer,” explained Opera Mediaworks CEO Mahi de Silva. “Given our experience in the tablet and smartphone space, as well as our experience in building HTML 5 runtime systems that are included in many connected TVs, we’re bringing that ad technology to bear for these devices in the living room.”
According to eMarketer, 35.1 million households in the US will have connected TV in 2013, rising to 41.3 million in 2014. With AdMarvel for Connected TVs, TV app developers and publishers can connect their inventory with buyers interested in reaching audiences via this new channel; the platform will display pre-roll and other ad formats to viewers on whatever application they are using on their TVs.
As more applications are developed for these devices, advertising in the space will grow, de Silva said.
“The interest is huge,” he added. “Advertisers and the agencies that serve them have been long frustrated about the non-digital access to advertising on connected TVs. This is the opportunity to converge the biggest advertising market, in the living room, with those digital tools and efficiencies to ultimately reach consumers in a more targeted, more performance-oriented way.”
Some connected-TV manufacturers already use the Opera Devices SDK, and the company also has an HTML 5-based app store for TVs, but the new AdMarvel for Connected TVs will work with all platforms, regardless of their connection to Opera.
AdMarvel is already working with early partners including Brightroll, TubeMogul, SpotXchange and Videology. The new platform does support programmatic buying, de Silva said: “In the mobile and tablet space, we’re connected to 114 DSP, and many of these platforms are capable of delivering ads that would be appropriate for connected TVs.”
