Xandr Launches Advanced Advertising Buying Platform

AT&T’s advertising and data company, Xandr, is launching Xandr Invest, a platform that gives media buyers insights from AT&T data and simplified access to premium content, including AT&T WarnerMedia programming.

Media buyers are looking to automate more of the pipelines between them and media sellers. They’re also seeking systems that can use data to pinpoint target audiences and then locate those consumers wherever they’re watching and on whatever device they’re using.

Related: Xandr’s Upfront News: More Content; Light Viewers Targeted

Xandr Invest will begin to incorporate tools and services to help converge TV and digital media strategies. Over time, traditional TV buying capabilities will become available within Xandr Invest. Its omnichannel inventory will include traditional TV, OTT, mobile, digital video, audio, native, and display.

In 2019, advertising spend for video, including OTT, through Xandr’s buy-side platform is experiencing double-digit growth year-over-year, the company said.

“Due to the major investments we have recently committed to our buy-side platform, Xandr now supports buying in the ways that make sense for advertisers. Xandr Invest offers them the combination of our exclusive consumer insights and content, backed by incredibly powerful technology,” said Michael Rubenstein, president of AppNexus, the technology company Xandr bought last year. “We’ve brought a platform to market that doesn’t just meet advertisers where they are now, but sets them up to capitalize on the future of advertising as digital and TV begin to converge.”

Xandr said that Xandr Invest uses a machine-learning optimization system to learn from campaigns as they’re planned and executed, allowing buyers to shift tactics to achieve their goals.

“The Home Depot has partnered with both AT&T AdWorks and AppNexus to add better measurement, targeting accuracy, and accountability to our TV and digital media buying,” said Drew Keenan, senior director media planning and buying at The Home Depot. “We’re very excited about the new opportunities created by Xandr.”

A Xandr Invest programmatic guaranteed offering lets buyers reserve access to premium content through the consolidated buying platform with no manual tags or additional invoices.

“Client sophistication in programmatic is reaching a new level of maturity, which means more demand for customization and an integrated approach to supply. We look forward to the cross-platform audience access, applying AT&T’s deterministic data, and the machine learning capabilities promised by the Xandr Invest platform,” said Evan Hanlon, chief strategy officer, GroupM U.S.

Xandr last month launched a content marketplace called Community, which now includes video from AT&T’s Warnermedia brands including CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, B/R Live, Warner Bros., Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Vice, Hearst Magazine, Newsy, Philo, Tubi and Xumo. 

The new Xandr Invest is the exclusive buy-side platform for Community, the company said.

“By simplifying access to premium, brand-safe content across all screens, Xandr Invest is advancing programmatic buying to a new level of relevance and effectiveness - and that translates to better business results for our clients,” said Catherine Sullivan, chief investment officer, Omnicom Media Group North America.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.