As more demand-side platforms focus on local CTV advertising, an overcrowded market means mergers and acquisitions.
On Thursday, TEGNA-owned CTV ad platform Premion announced the acquisition of Octillion Media, a DSP launched in 2019 to serve local CTV ad buyers. Premion declined to disclose the terms of the deal.
Premion also serves local advertisers. (The TV broadcast company Gray Television has a minority stake in the company.) But Premion lacked its own ad-buying technology, Tom Cox, president of Premion and SVP of corporate development at TEGNA, told AdExchanger.
Owning more technology is “the right path” to stay competitive in the race for a slice of the CTV pie, Cox said.
Bringing Octillion’s DSP in house gives Premion quicker, more direct access to CTV supply and more control over its media buys. Cox also said Octillion brings local campaign planning and attribution tools to the table, in addition to some net-new clients.
At the end of the day, “this is really a revenue play,” he said.
Premion in the house
Until now, Premion relied on external DSPs like MadHive.
The company still plans to work with those DSPs, despite owning one of its own, Cox said. DSPs have specific tools, inventory integrations and clientele, so “it’s just best practice” not to depend on a single vendor, he said.
That being said, Premion will use the Octillion DSP wherever it makes sense to, he added.
Plus, putting Octillion under its umbrella means Premion can consolidate one ad tech fee within a campaign supply chain.
In other words, consider this acquisition “a version of supply-path optimization for local CTV,” said Chris Karl, chief business development officer at boutique investment and advisory firm JEGI CLARITY (which was not involved in this acquisition).
For that reason, Karl said, this is a “highly strategic acquisition” that should be accretive to TEGNA.
Widening the scope
According to Cox, though, most of Premion’s potential revenue growth from the deal should come from net-new advertiser budgets. Octillion has clients in verticals that are mostly new for Premion, Cox said, although he declined to share specifics. But for reference, Octillion focuses on verticals such as retail, QSR and political.
Premion also hopes to court new advertisers by “further differentiating its products,” he said, referring to Octillion’s planning and measurement tools.
“Through this acquisition,” he said, “there are more innovative things we could do from a planning, targeting and attribution perspective, [which] we expect to layer onto our tech stack.”
And more clients is what Premion needs to stand out from the specialized DSP crowd and get noticed by major CTV media sellers tapping into the local market.
