Smartclip and Samsung have announced a global advertising partnership for inventory on Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players in 19 markets, including North America, Europe, Russia and Australia. Smartclip will be partnering with Samsung’s ad platform, Samsung AdHub, which currently offers advertising on mobiles, tablets and connected TVs. In a statement Smartclip said that advertisers will be able to target audiences ‘as they enter into the Samsung AdHub experience and throughout their Smart TV journey’.
The partnership is interesting for a couple of reasons:
1. This is the second major deal Smartclip has struck with a connected TV hardware manufacturer — Smartclip also represents LG’s inventory in Europe, Russia and Australia. Combined with Smartclip’s connected TV app inventory, it’s going to become a little easier for brands to scale campaigns across connected TV. The days of ‘when will it scale’ questions around connected TV might well be coming to an end.
2. Samsung’s inventory is likely to grow significantly with every Samsung TV sold and not only because a new TV represents a new set of potential users, but also because of software developments. The 2013 version of Samsung’s Smart TV Smart Hub operating system is the default platform a user will see when they turn on their Samsung Smart TV. So even if you use Pay TV or are using an OTT service, you will have to access that service via Smart Hub. So, at least on Samsung TVs, connected TV is no longer separated from the mainstream TV experience in the way it has been in the past. It’s the point of entry for all users — and Samsung owns it.
Have a Weekly Summary of Industry News and Insights Delivered to Your Inbox
Jean-Pierre Fumagalli, CEO at Smartclip, said, “Smartclip is thrilled to be partnering with the number one TV manufacturer in all these markets. Samsung Smart TV’s reach and distribution makes this addition to the smartclip Connected TV portfolio very attractive to our advertisers as this audience is very relevant to advertisers looking to reach a sophisticated and brand conscious demographic. This partnership with Samsung delivers significant additional scale across our Connected TV network, and marketers can add Connected TV to their digital mix and reach consumers on all four screens with a like-to-like measurement.”
