FreeWheel to provide decisioning platform for ads on Discovery's cable networks

Monday, September 30th, 2019
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Discovery, Inc. Partners with FreeWheel on Multi-Year Agreement to Unify Its Advertising Management and Aggregate Audience Scale Across All Screens

  • Discovery to Use FreeWheel’s Unified Decisioning Platform to Re-aggregate Scale, Enhance Targeting Capabilities, and Simplify the Workflow for Transactions with Advertising Buyers
  • New Agreement Follows Major Technology Integration of Discovery Platforms by FreeWheel to Enable Holistic Management Across All Combined Networks

NEW YORK — Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) and FreeWheel, A Comcast Company (Nasdaq: CMCSA), today announced a multi-year agreement under which FreeWheel will provide their unified decisioning platform to enable holistic advertising management for Discovery’s full roster of cable networks.

“As we are building the advertising solutions of the future, the industry needs to accelerate the innovation around technology, measurement and targeting. There is too much value being left on the table and Discovery is committed to supporting the next generation of innovators across the industry. FreeWheel has been a strong partner over the years, and their work to integrate the tech stacks of our expanded portfolio, while complicated, has been seamless,” said Keith Kazerman, EVP Digital Sales, Advanced Advertising and Research, Discovery, Inc. “The resulting, combined Discovery platform offers advertisers the necessary scale and intelligence to reach their customers across the array of data-enabled delivery channels that are redefining the way television is bought and sold.”

An increasingly important focus for Discovery is reaching viewers who watch programming via Discovery GO, the company’s TVE streaming platform, as well as viewers who access Discovery’s channels through a cable or satellite provider’s app. Apps allow advertisers additional addressable targeting capabilities that can be used to reach more precise audiences, or to build incremental reach among those unexposed or underexposed to a TV campaign. Discovery and FreeWheel have partnered to ensure these advertising opportunities can be realized across all of Discovery’s properties.

Given the value that addressability brings to advertisers, Discovery is also working with Comcast and FreeWheel to bring these capabilities to Discovery programming delivered via traditional linear distribution and video on demand (VOD). This was the focus of Comcast Advertising’s On Addressability initiative announcement earlier this summer.

“It’s great to work with partners who share the same focus on innovation and industry leadership,” said James Rooke, General Manager, FreeWheel Publishers. “The work that we have done together, and continue to expand upon, is truly changing video advertising for the better. We are proud to call Discovery a client and look forward to the exciting advancements on the horizon.”