New Integration Allows Hearst to Maximize Premium Content Advantage Through FreeWheel Technology and Marketplace Partnership
Supports Hearst Television’s Hearst Anyscreen OTT Solution and Overarching “TV as a Platform” Objectives
NEW YORK — Hearst Television, a subsidiary of Hearst, and FreeWheel, A Comcast Company (Nasdaq: CMCSA), announced that they have partnered to offer a scalable, premium over-the-top (OTT) video solution to advertisers. Hearst Anyscreen, Hearst Television’s OTT advertising product, will use FreeWheel’s Monetization and Revenue Management (MRM) platform to enhance and expand access to premium OTT video inventory. This will allow Hearst Television to improve the scale and transparency of the inventory available on its owned properties and to augment OTT advertising campaigns with additional inventory sources within the FreeWheel marketplace.
“Our work with Hearst fits perfectly with our overall objective of allowing television to operate with the ease of a platform, while delivering targeted audiences at scale”
“Keeping pace with the expectations of the marketplace, we are constantly evolving and improving Hearst Anyscreen to the highest standards of inventory quality and reporting transparency,” said Adam Noble, Hearst Television’s Director of Ad Products. “Our integration with FreeWheel enables an improved connection to premium inventory from natural partners such as A+E Networks, and opens up additional supply from preferred partners while maintaining the same high standard of quality and compliance that we have always offered our clients.”
“Consumers have unlimited options when consuming content. Consequently, for advertisers, ensuring that their marketing projects are adjacent to content that delivers high-level engagement has grown in importance,” said Jason DeMarco, Vice President, Programmatic & Audience Solutions at A+E Networks. “A+E Networks, together with Hearst Television and Freewheel, are offering an advertising experience that combines best-in-class content, white glove sales and top-quality technology to create a premium advertising opportunity.”
FreeWheel has been a leading voice for the development of a unified TV platform, focused on developing technologies that facilitate unification within the industry across a number of different fronts spanning data, measurement, cross-screen audience delivery and linear enablement.
“Our work with Hearst fits perfectly with our overall objective of allowing television to operate with the ease of a platform, while delivering targeted audiences at scale,” said James Rooke, General Manager, FreeWheel Publishers. “In this case, we’re thrilled to be helping to ensure that local advertisers can use TV and video to meet their specific marketing objectives.”
Rooke also noted that this is the first step designed to enhance the value of local broadcast inventory. Next stages will focus on the co-development of initiatives to further the unification of digital video and linear TV inventory, an area of focus for both companies.
About FreeWheel
FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, empowers all segments of The New TV Ecosystem. We are structured to provide the full breadth of solutions the advertising industry needs to achieve their goals. We provide the technology, data enablement and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types, and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers.
With offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Beijing and across the globe, FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information, please visit www.freewheel.tv, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Hearst Television
Hearst Television owns and operates television and radio stations serving 26 media markets across 39 states reaching over 21 million U.S. television households. Through its partnership with nearly all of the major networks, Hearst Television distributes national content over nearly 70 video channels including programming from ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, MY Net, MeTV, This TV, Estrella and more. The radio stations are leaders in Baltimore news/talk and rock music listenership. Hearst Television is recognized as one of the industry’s premier companies and has been honored with numerous awards for distinguished journalism, industry innovation, and community service. Hearst Television is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst.
About A+E Networks
A+E Networks® is a global content company comprised of some of the most popular and culturally relevant brands in media including A&E®, Lifetime®, HISTORY®, Lifetime Movies, FYI™, VICELAND®, Blaze™ and Crime+Investigation®. A+E Networks’ portfolio extends across platforms and genres, with a long-form production division, A+E Studios™; film division, A&E IndieFilms®; long-form unscripted production unit, A+E Originals™; and A+E Digital®, encompassing watch apps, games and SVOD initiatives including Lifetime Movie Club and HISTORY Vault. A+E Networks’ channels and branded programming reach more than 335 million households in over 200 territories in 42 languages. A+E Networks has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea and Singapore. A+E Networks is a joint venture of Disney-ABC Television Group and Hearst. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/aenetworks and Facebook at facebook.com/AENetworks.
