Yahoo announced that it has agreed to acquire programmatic video advertising platform BrightRoll for $640 million in cash. The platform will be combined with Yahoo’s premium desktop and mobile video ad inventory. Yahoo also notes that related publisher relationships will bring value for advertisers on both platforms.
BrightRoll powers video ads for 87 of the AdAge Top 100 U.S. advertisers, as well as all of the top fifteen ad agencies and ten of the leading demand-side platforms. It served more video ads and reached more people in the U.S. this year than any other platform, according to comScore.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said in a blog post, “Video is display 2.0. It’s what brand advertisers love. It’s a format that elegantly and easily transitions from broadcast television to PC to mobile and even to wearables. This is why video is a key part of our strategy. It’s one of our four strategic pillars: search, communications, digital magazines and video. It’s also one of our growth businesses: mobile, social, native, video.”
“We say that video is display 2.0 because we believe it can reinvent and replace the branded banner advertisement,” she added. “Video, along with mobile, social, and native, represents a new format of online advertising that has the potential to help us transform and modernize Yahoo’s display business and return it to growth.”
BrightRoll Founder and CEO Tod Sacerdoti said, “We believe the next step for programmatic video advertising as an industry is to extend and standardize globally, make cross-device buying simple and measurable, and complement and integrate with TV. We are excited to join Yahoo to materially advance efforts in each of these areas. We’re still in the early innings as an industry, and together, BrightRoll and Yahoo are committed to the vision of helping grow the entire video advertising ecosystem.”
BrightRoll is expected to bring in $100 million in net revenues this year. Yahoo expects the transaction to enhance its EBITDA. The deal is subject to closing conditions.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
