Matthias Dang (RTL Deutschland) and Carsten Schwecke (Seven.One Media)
German media companies RTL Deutschland and ProSiebenSat.1 join forces in advertising technology (adtech).
The partnership will bring together the content and services of each group’s adtech company, Smartclip and Virtual Minds, so that advertisers can run campaigns spanning the two partners’ platforms, ranging from linear TV to smart TV advertising and campaigns on the RTL+ and Joyn streaming platforms. With their cooperation, RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 want to make both the German advertising market and the companies themselves less dependent on adtech solutions provided by US tech giants.
In future, advertisers and agencies will not only benefit from easier access for their campaign planning, booking and playout but, for the first time, digital and linear video reach will be technologically linked and optimised on playout by cross-platform data, and linear TV will be made widely available on a programmatic basis, according to the companies. This will mean that campaigns via addressable TV (ATV), connected TV (CTV) and linear TV can be measured in a uniform way and in future also be booked, a technological basis appealing to new and digitally savvy customers.
The open initiative in the adtech space wants to encourage broadcasters and publishers across Europe to present their inventory through specific adtech offerings, making it more accessible to their customers and thus contributing to the further convergence of TV and online video. Following the launch of this partnership in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), there are plans to expand rapidly into other European countries. In terms of implementation, the individual technology components of the adtech companies – Smartclip from RTL Deutschland and Virtual Minds from ProSiebenSat.1 – will be technically linked to each another.
The German Federal Cartel Office was notified of this project in advance.
“As both media and technology groups, we want to closely align our strengths. Through this cooperation, we’re rolling out our vision of a full adtech stack and offering our advertising partners a reliable alternative to international tech providers. At the same time, it will help us stay in the driver’s seat when it comes to digitising the total video approach and tackle rapid changes in the field of tech and data,” said Matthias Dang, Chief Commercial, Technology and Data Officer at RTL Deutschland.
Carsten Schwecke, CEO of ProSiebenSat.1’s advertising sales subsidiary Seven.One Media, added: “By cooperating in this way, ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL Deutschland are laying the foundations for full-stack adtech that is made in Europe. Both companies invested in advertising technology at an early stage, with the most effective medium, TV, undergoing a process of comprehensive digitisation. In the future, technology based on artificial intelligence (AI) will further improve the efficiency of linear and digital advertising. This will make booking innovative, cross-platform TV campaigns easier and more efficient for both advertisers and agencies.”
Asked about the role the HbbTV standard plays in the cooperation, Schwecke told Broadband TV News: “The cooperation is not intended to drive forward HbbTV as a standard. Our joint venture Addressable TV Initiative is responsible for this. This cooperation is about the big screen as a whole and about establishing a consistent tech stack by technically linking the offerings and services of our in-house adtech specialists. This will enable advertising customers to have simple and standardised booking options for comprehensive campaigns on our platforms. The co-operation partners will use Smartclip ATV technology to market HbbTV reach in Germany. In the area of the Demand Side Platform (DSP), the partners will rely on technology from Active Agent of Virtual Minds.”
RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 and their technology companies want to commence the implementation phase soon. The aim is to create the relevant interfaces in the second half of 2024, enabling advertisers and agencies to book the first cross-genre campaigns leveraging the inventories of advertising sales houses Ad Alliance and Seven.One Media using the same adtech.
After d-force and the Addressable TV Initiative (ATVI), the adtech cooperation is the third collaboration between RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 in the area of new advertising solutions.
