Video ad serving platform SpotX has struck a strategic partnership with fuboTV, a sports-first streaming TV service.
Fubo’s line-up of channels includes more than 30,000 live sporting events per year, from the NFL playoffs, and the 2018 Winter Olympics to the FIFA World Cup, NBA, the Kentucky Derby, the Tour de France, the most watched football leagues in the U.S. – La Liga, EPL, Liga MX, MLS, Bundesliga.
Through this partnership, SpotX is powering the programmatic monetization of fuboTV’s live, over-the-top (OTT) content – including more channels that carry sports in a base package than any similar service. The new integration is expected to increase fuboTV’s market share by giving more brands, agencies, and trading desks unparalleled access to sports fans streaming fuboTV’s live content across connected TV, mobile, and desktop.
fuboTV previously monetized content primarily through subscriptions but turned on ads this past summer. Due to early success, fuboTV made its live ad insertion technology available to advertisers via direct buy campaigns. After a comprehensive evaluation process, fuboTV ultimately chose SpotX as its designated supply-side platform (SSP) for both private marketplace and open exchange traded campaigns.
More than 150 national brands purchased fuboTV’s advertising inventory programmatically during the fourth quarter of last year, double Q3 2017. Additionally, 50 of the top 100 spending U.S. advertisers now run campaigns on fuboTV via SpotX.
“In today’s fully automated advertising ecosystem, it’s increasingly important for us to find the right technology partner that can streamline the programmatic monetization process, said Andy Hammond, VP, sales at fuboTV. “We continue to be extremely impressed by SpotX’s robust monetization capabilities, massive scale, and deep agency relationships, and look forward to working more closely together throughout 2018.”
fuboTV is one of the fastest-growing OTT services in the US, due to a line-up of live channels that brings viewers coverage of marquee sports events, as well as popular news and entertainment programming.
This includes access to channels that collectively telecast more than 30,000 live sporting events per year, from the NFL playoffs, Super Bowl LII and the 2018 Winter Olympics to the FIFA World Cup, NHL, NBA, MLB, UFC, the Kentucky Derby, Tour de France, the most watched soccer leagues in the U.S. (La Liga, EPL, Liga MX, MLS, Bundesliga) and much more.
SpotX will also enable fuboTV to dynamically target audiences by a variety of different data segments including live vs. VOD, DMA, device, and language. In addition, fuboTV is leveraging SpotX’s demand facilitation services to connect premium brands with the service’s niche inventory. fuboTV has seen private marketplace deals increase an average of 55 percent monthly via SpotX.
Adobe Ad Cloud is among the first demand-side platforms (DSP) integrated with fuboTV to transact programmatically through SpotX, generating the most revenue from the alliance to date, and average view to completion rates of more than 97 percent.
“Live OTT as a medium is becoming more and more important to advertisers and fuboTV obviously has their finger on the pulse of what’s to come for sports fans,” said Ryan Kenney, VP of Platform Services at SpotX. “We’re excited to help drive monetization for fuboTV’s unique content portfolio and the unparalleled consumer engagement that sports programming offers brands.”