Adelphic adds digital-out-of-home to its repertoire

In January, Time, Inc.-owned ad tech firm Viant bought demand side platform (DSP) Adelphic.

Adelphic was born as a mobile-focused ad DSP, but it had added desktop, tablet and connected TV by the time of the acquisition.

Now, it has added the outer edges of the digital ad ecosystem: digital out-of-home (DOOH). The inventory comes from Clear Channel, which offers mostly digital billboards, and Captivate, which mostly has screens in elevators, bus stops and similar locations. The private marketplace is provided by Rubicon Project.

Viant CMO Jon Schulz told me that, to his knowledge, this offering is the first time ads are being delivered in a “fully self-service” programmatic setting to DOOH inventory, beyond just order taking. The measurement techniques — how many viewers and so on — are provided by Clear Channel and Captivate.

DOOH sales are booming at a 10 percent annual rate, according to PQ Media, and, bit by bit, out-of-home is becoming part of the overall programmatic ad ecosystem.

Santa Monica, California-based AdQuick, for instance, offers a web-based platform online service for the booking of connected outdoor displays. New York City-based Vistar Media announced last year it was offering the first employment of first-party customer relationship management data for DOOH via a partnership with data provider LiveRamp.

Schulz noted that Adelphic provides a fully integrated self-service platform that handles the entire process — bidding, targeting and deployment. This means, he said, that DOOH can be coordinated with other channels from the same dashboard.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.