NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xandr, AT&T’s advanced advertising and analytics company, has announced the formation of Community, a curated marketplace of publishers that enables advertisers to reach their audiences at scale in a brand-safe, privacy-protected, premium video environment. Community is built on Xandr’s powerful technology and consumer insights, enabling buyers and sellers to drive better business outcomes. This new marketplace is the first-step towards the future convergence of linear TV and digital.
Community simplifies and improves an advertiser’s ability to connect with hard-to-reach audiences, regardless of how they engage with content across traditional TV, connected TV, OTT, mobile, and online. Community also offers controls to programmers and publishers to achieve better yield on their premium multiplatform inventory.
“After only eight short months since the launch of Xandr, Community delivers on our promise of a brand-safe, insight-driven, premium video marketplace,” said Brian Lesser, CEO of Xandr. “Building on one of the largest technology platforms in the industry and integrating Xandr’s unique audience insights from AT&T, we created the foundation of Community. Now, with the incredible inventory from our inaugural Community partners, the marketplace is open.”
Community is a Multi-Screen Premium Video Marketplace
Increasingly, marketers are looking for simpler ways to connect with audiences across digital, video, and television.
Xandr is committed to providing advertisers access to scaled, brand-safe, premium content with unique insights across wireless, broadband, and video. By aggregating inventory across publishers and creating multi-seller deals, publishers can increase the value of their inventory and improve monetization, while advertisers have the benefit of better access to content and increased scale.
WarnerMedia (including Otter Media), Vice, Hearst Magazine, Newsy, Philo, Tubi, and Xumo join as inaugural Community partners, adding more than 15 premium content providers to the marketplace and reaching more than 50 million active monthly users on streaming services. In addition to WarnerMedia’s portfolio across CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, B/R Live, Warner Bros., Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth and VRV, Community will also encompass additional premium video content from other AT&T owned-and-operated properties including DIRECTV NOW and AT&T WatchTV.
“Community’s vision aligns perfectly with our long-term strategy of pairing our high-quality content with breakthrough insights to deliver better ad experiences and drive results for advertisers,” said Donna Speciale, president of WarnerMedia Ad Sales. “As a launch partner, we are excited to be able to offer clients extended digital audience opportunities through Community, and we look forward to working with Xandr on enhanced addressable solutions with our live national linear television inventory in the near future.”
Added Henry Embleton, head of ad products and strategy, Ellation (part of Otter Media), “We rely on our programmatic partners to deliver the best possible ad supported experience for our fans at Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, and VRV, however, that information is not always accurate or reliable. Xandr is going to be a programmatic game changer – delivering deep, rich, dependable data from AT&T to enhance our user experience, paired with an expansive reach to help us grow our bottom line.”
“We're pleased to be working through Community to pair the largest free ad-supported movie and TV audience with unique addressable targeting through AT&T data,” said Mark Rotblat, chief revenue officer, Tubi.
“At Philo, we want to offer the best experience for both our subscribers and advertisers. By partnering with Xandr, we build upon our seamless programmatic solutions that allow advertisers to reach their audiences via the Philo platform,” said Reed Barker, Philo’s head of advertising.
Community is Cross-Screen Addressable
Increasingly, marketers are looking for ways to buy media across multiple touchpoints to connect with hard-to-reach audiences as digital, video, and TV converge. To better power advertising experiences across screens for consumers, Xandr’s Cross-Screen Addressable solution is now integrated within Community, allowing advertisers to combine the power of addressable TV with the precision and scale of digital.
Xandr’s Cross-Screen Addressable solution enables advertisers to define their audience and identify the households that match their desired attributes. Then, through Community, advertisers can serve relevant messages to that same audience across screens to amplify the impact of their campaign.
Community is Accountable
Using Xandr’s data, based on AT&T’s first-party consumer insights, Community will improve the efficacy and efficiency of media buying.
Community is layered with Xandr Audience Segments that are built from AT&T’s 170 million direct-to-consumer relationships. Community’s privacy-forward approach to attribution will enable advertisers to reach their audiences based on intent, interest, and lifestyle attributes.
Similar to the insights advertisers can glean from a Cross-Screen Addressable campaign, Xandr’s unique consumer analytics will help marketers determine the effectiveness of their media buys, including the impact on brand health and the ability to aid in frequency capping of a given brand message. Using these powerful attribution tools, marketers will have the ability to gain greater insights and become more effective with each campaign they run within Community.
Community is Reaching Consumers Where They Are
Xandr recently released original, consumer-centric research, called the Relevance Report. The report surveyed more than 3,000 people to learn how they consume content and their advertising preferences.
Consumers are spending more time than ever engaging with content. The report revealed 68% of consumers spend the majority of their free time engaging with content, and 76% said content enriches and enhances their lives, with 72% stating their day wouldn’t be complete without it.
Despite this engagement with content, consumers, especially younger audiences, have become proficient at tuning out content and advertising that they do not perceive as immediately relevant to them. About 57% of respondents say they do not want to engage with ads because they are not relevant to them and, most importantly, 66% wish advertisements were more relevant to them and their lives.
Community is Making TV More Data-Driven
Xandr is the leader in advanced TV advertising*. Community builds on the expertise of more than 3,000 addressable and advanced TV campaigns, and will begin to incorporate robust TV management tools. Using its technology and data analytics, Community will create more relevant advertising opportunities and help optimize yield management of inventory for live, playback, and VOD on traditional linear TV.
Community is Privacy-Protected
Xandr is committed to protecting data and privacy, while providing valuable and relevant advertising to consumers. Responsible data usage has been part of AT&T’s DNA for more than 143 years, always giving customers the power of choice to opt in or out of relevant advertising.
About Xandr
Xandr is creating a better solution for advertisers and publishers to find and reach specific audiences at scale in trusted, premium content environments. As a current leader in advanced TV advertising with the one of the best technology platforms, AppNexus, we help advertisers deliver the right message, at the right time, on almost any device. We are rooted in a tradition of responsible data usage. For more than 143 years, AT&T has used data and technology to inform and improve the customer experience.
*Source: The Myers Report Survey on Media Company B2B Relationships, Services and Value, Q1 2019.