AT&T’s Xandr Acquires Data-Centric Linear TV Ad Platform Clypd

Dade Hayes

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AT&T’s advertising unit, Xandr, has acquired Clypd, a TV advertising platform for broadcast and cable TV networks.

Terms of the transaction were not revealed, and the company did not include any comments in its press release announcing the deal, citing the quiet period prior to AT&T’s quarterly earnings release on October 28.

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Boosting Xandr’s ad targeting capabilties is the strategic objective driving the deal. AT&T has long cited the advertising potential of its 170 million consumer relationships across wireless, satellite, cable and other platforms during the process of absorbing the former Time Warner assets over the past year.

WarnerMedia, as the entertainment unit is now known, was acquired for $81 billion, but its ultimate value will grow by matching the Xandr tools with content from Warner Bros. and TV networks like TNT, CNN and TBS, the company believes. Xandr is also collaborating with WarnerMedia on an advertising-supported layer of the HBO Max streaming service, though it isn’t yet clear how soon the AVOD component of Max will come to market.

Clypd has already been working with media companies such as Discovery and CBS. Its technology helps automate and optimize advertising with an efficiency similar to the online world. Its platform is used by advertisers to define campaign targets, discover available inventory and measure the performance of campaigns.

Along with the Clypd deal, Xandr said its premium ad marketplace, Community, is adding SpotX as the exclusive third-party supply-side platform. The addition is billed as a way of improving server-side ad insertion, or SSAI which is considered essential to a seamless advertising experience for both buyers and viewers. Yospace, an SSAI specialist owned by SpotX, already works with Xandr and WarnerMedia on those digital insertions.

Community, which is working to unite WarnerMedia’s many distinct brands in a coherent offering for advertisers, held its first upfront event last spring. Beyond its parent company, Community has added companies like A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Bloomberg, Vice Media, Philo and Tubi to its client roster.

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