Left: Oz Lang
Right: Ben Sullins
Former Adobe, SpotX, WarnerMedia and Comcast Members Join To Further Fuel Innovation, Planning, Targeting and Measurement Offerings Utilizing Best in Class TV Data Infrastructure
VIZIO today announced the expansion of its direct-to-device advertising business to meet increasing advertiser demand and further fuel its growth as a streaming-first, data-driven media company.
The latest additions to VIZIO’s in-house ad tech team include experts and engineers from across the industry, such as VP of Product Management Oscar “Oz” Lang, formerly head of product for Adobe's Advertising Cloud TV business, and VP of Product Engineering Ben Sullins, formerly SVP of Engineering with SpotX. Additional new members of VIZIO Ads’ technology team have recently joined from WarnerMedia, Comcast, Discovery, Magnite, Vevo Ads and other leading companies.
To house this growing team, VIZIO recently expanded its footprint with the opening of its Tech Innovation center in Denver, Colorado in December. The new Denver office is home to 140 of VIZIO’s engineering and tech specialists focused on the innovation of VIZIO’s software, ad products, and entertainment ecosystem. The VIZIO Ads and Innovation teams are now more than 400 people strong, collaborating together to drive the future of television from offices in key markets across the country including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Denver.
“Since our IPO last year, we have been heavily investing in engineering and software to scale our Platform+ operations and build out our in-house ad tech team,” said David Rudnick, Senior Vice President of Product Engineering at VIZIO. “This investment will not only provide unique opportunities and measurable outcomes for advertisers, but it also helps us drive better consumer experiences.”
The expanded team will focus on innovation, planning, targeting, measurement, and product development across the entire VIZIO Ads product suite, which is fueled by proprietary Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology from VIZIO’s Inscape. Inscape provides unparalleled viewership data from 18.6MM+ devices, which provides brands and agencies with greater transparency, accuracy, relevancy, control, and attribution that connects ad buys to business outcomes.
VIZIO Ads’ suite of products include True Incremental Reach, Universal Frequency Control, and Household Connect, which is its omnichannel offering helping marketers expand audience reach for cross-device campaigns. VIZIO’s Homescreen is the first stop for millions of Smart TV households, and streamlines the search and discovery process for viewers, while providing exclusive opportunities for marketers to reach those viewers with tune-in ads and creative brand messaging.
Rudnick continued, “Consumers are rapidly shifting to the Smart TV experience, and because we own the hardware, software, and data, we are able to innovate in ways that others can’t. With continued momentum on the Platform+ side of our business, which is a function of better personalization and engagement on SmartCast, we are driving interest with brands, advertisers and content partners to work with VIZIO.”
VIZIO Ads’ unique direct-to-device offering has doubled the number of participating unique brands and tripled its average revenue per advertiser in the last year. Additionally, VIZIO Ads’ 2022 upfront commitments exceeded $100 million, a fourfold increase over 2021, including enterprise-level buys from six major agency holding companies and encompassing a number of top advertising categories in traditional TV such as automotive, insurance and retail.