Yahoo paying $640M for digital video ad platform BrightRoll
Despite ongoing speculation about the sustainability and value of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's long-term strategy, the acquisitions keep coming anyway.
The latest private entity being drawn into Yahoo's net is digital video advertising platform BrightRoll.
Yahoo plans to combine its desktop and mobile video advertising inventory with BrightRoll’s programmatic video platform and publisher relationships to establish the largest digital video advertising platform in the United States.
Mayer touted in Tuesday's announcement that "video, along with mobile, social, and native, is driving a surge in digital advertising," adding that video is one of Yahoo's greatest growth opportunities too.
"As with every acquisition, we have been extremely thoughtful about our approach to the video advertising space," Mayer said.
Founded in 2006 and based in San Francisco, BrightRoll's programmatic video advertising platform is designed for reaching audiences across desktop, mobile and TV.
Yahoo cited that BrightRoll powers digital video advertising for 87 of the AdAge Top 100 US advertisers with "tens of thousands of sites and mobile apps" sending approximately two billion requests per day to BrightRoll to monetize inventory.
BrightRoll CEO and founder Tod Sacerdoti explained in a separate memo how the Yahoo merger will "grow the pie" for all of its customers.
Sacerdoti wrote:
For advertisers and agencies, exclusive access to Yahoo’s audience data via BrightRoll’s industry leading DSP solution will result in increased in-target efficiency and significant cost savings.
Publishers who work with the BrightRoll’s marketplace will benefit from Yahoo’s deep relationships with advertisers and agencies. This deal will allow us to accelerate the growth of our marketplace bringing more dollars to publishers’ properties.
Technology partners who have developed solutions within the BrightRoll ecosystem will benefit from the accelerated growth in usage of our platform and increased transaction volume.
With the deal expected to close during the first quarter of 2015, the search company is paying approximately $640 million in cash for BrightRoll. The company will also remain in tact in that all 400 employees or so will continue to work on digital video advertising.