British broadcaster ITV this morning announced that Samsung TV Plus has signed up as the first third-party publisher to sell inventory through ITV’s new buying platform Planet V. ITV says it expects Samsung inventory to start appearing in Planet V early next year, once integrations with Samsung’s programmatic partners SpotX and Publica are complete.
The deal will see Samsung TV Plus inventory made available programmatically on a self-serve basis through ITV hub, allowing buyers the same sorts of controls they have for ITV Hub inventory through the platform. Planet V presents buyers with a ‘storefront’ for each buyer, with a number of different products. These include things like ‘refining audience’ for audience based buys, ‘content alignment’ for content-based buys, and ‘pro’ for programmatic teams who want maximum control over their buys.
Sellers can also adjust what each buyer sees in terms of pricing and targeting options, based on their relationship with each buyer.
Kelly Williams, managing director of commercial at ITV, said the deal marks a significant milestone for the platform. ITV hopes to sign up other broadcasters and publishers with significant video inventory to Planet V, to allow buyers greater scale and reach through the platform.
“Samsung plays a critical role in the modern TV ecosystem, which makes them a perfect strategic partner for this initiative,” said Williams. “We’re delighted that they too see the power in the consolidation of technology solutions for premium video, and we look forward to coming together to drive the future of advanced advertising.”
At launch, Samsung TV Ads inventory will be sold entirely separately from ITV Hub inventory. But ITV says that in the future, it hopes to be able to combine inventory from multiple broadcasters and publishers into single buys.
The deal is interesting from Samsung’s perspective too, as Samsung relatively recently released its own dedicated buying platform for its connected-TV inventory. But Samsung clearly values the potential of Planet V to attract more buyers towards its inventory over the control lost through selling inventory through a third-party.
“We are delighted to partner with one of the UK’s leading broadcasters on this exciting and transformative initiative,” said Alex Hole, VP of Samsung Ads. “Our partnership with ITV reflects the appetite from advertisers, who can now access directly via Planet V, brilliant content from both ITV and Samsung TV Plus, our free, ad-supported streaming service. As the TV continues to take centre stage in our homes, it’s crucial advertisers can reach every type of viewer. This partnership allows just that.”
