Seedtag, a contextual advertising company, has acquired Beachfront Media, a sell-side platform (SSP), for an undisclosed amount.
The contextual ad tech firm has been building out its TV advertising business over the last few months, launching its Contextual TV product in March to provide contextual targeting on CTV ad buys. Today’s announcement builds on those capabilities, as the Beachfront SSP provides direct access to CTV inventory.
By combining this inventory with Seedtag’s contextual targeting solutions, the companies said they can offer enchanced CTV strategies, viewer targeting and campaign performance for advertisers. They also suggested the tie-up comes at the right time in the evolution of CTV, with marketers growing their CTV investments.
“With a decade of experience maximising campaign effectiveness on the open web by leveraging contextual AI, Seedtag is now well-equipped to help brands, agencies and publishers navigate the challenges of CTV advertising,” said Jorge Poyatos, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Seedtag. “With the acquisition of Beachfront, we will further enrich our unique Contextual TV solution by incorporating a native platform into our stack, adding additional signals to our AI, and expanding our publisher partnerships. This move aligns perfectly with our mission to create the most effective advertising technology for a privacy-first world, now also available on CTV.”
Sowing the seeds
The acquisition comes ahead of Google’s much-delayed deprecation of third-party cookies, a move expected to drive further CTV spend and adoption of contextual advertising tools. Seedtag has been investing in contextual and AI solutions since 2014, when the company was founded by former Google executives in Madrid.
Since then the business has expanded into new markets and raised funding to fuel its acquisitions, including a $40 million Series B round in 2021. Seedtag now counts 600 employees across its offices in Spain, France, Italy, the UK, Benelux, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, UAE, Peru, Canada, India and the US. In 2021, the company acquired KMTX (previously Keymantics), a French firm specialising in building AI models to automate ad campaigns.
In 2022 Seedtag raised over €250 million in funding from private equity investor Advent International, earmarking the funds for scaling its AI technology, expanding into the US, and providing capital for further M&A activity.
The latest acquisition sees those funds put to use, as Seedtag seeks to expand its contextual solutions from the open web and into CTV.
“As we have done on the open web, Seedtag is committed to bringing unique, innovative solutions to contextualising CTV programming,” said Brian Danzis, President, North America at Seedtag. “The acquisition of Beachfront will help accelerate these efforts by combining access to direct premium supply with our proprietary approach to the creation of privacy-first audiences, creative and placement optimisation, as well as insightful, action-oriented, reporting and measurement.”
Beachfront was founded in 2007 as a mobile ad platform with headquarters in New York City. In 2017, investment firms PSP Partners and Growth Catalyst Partners acquired a majority stake in the ad tech company, as CTV became a growing part of its business. Beachfront now works with AMC Networks, A+E Networks, Fubo, Paramount, Philo, Spectrum Reach, TelevisaUnivision and Xumo.
“In recent years, the CTV advertising ecosystem has undergone significant growth and transformation,” said Beachfront CEO Chris Maccaro. “Beachfront has proudly served at the forefront of this industry-wide change, helping premium CTV media sellers to drive monetisation and deliver exceptional viewer experiences. As a leader in contextual advertising, Seedtag’s unique solutions, global footprint, and scaled demand partnerships will help advance Beachfront’s services and create value for our CTV publisher partners.”
