RTL and SevenOne Entertainment to create new addressable ad tech JV

German broadcasters RTL Deutschland and Seven.One Entertainment Group/ProSiebenSat.1 are to set up an addressable advertising technology joint venture.

The pair said their aim is to develop existing technologies for addressable TV based on open standards, such as HbbTV, for the European market. The plan is subject to regulatory approval.

The planned joint venture will involve offering central technical solutions to consumer electronics manufacturers and broadcasters to make interactive services on Smart TVs more easily accessible for addressable advertising.

These solutions will be licensable for other European broadcasters, the pair said. They said their aim was to technically link create open standards and the marketable implementation of these in Smart TVs.

The partners expect to receive the necessary regulatory approvals in the second half of this year.

The move is the latest joint attempt to stimulate addressable advertising and part of a wider trend between European broadcasters to cooperate in this area.

RTL Deutschland and Seven.One Entertainment Group are already partners in a joint venture, d-force, to help advertisers engage their target audiences via addressable TV and online video across multiple sales houses.

D-Force, a 50:50 joint venture, was established in 2019. The venture is essentially designed to establish an automated booking platform for addressable advertising to enable brands to reach target audiences at scale.

D-Force tapped the Active Agent platform, which was part of Virtual Minds, the ad stack created by ProSiebenSat.1 Group, to enable advertisers and agencies to programmatically book digital campaigns.

The partners said at the time the JV was established that they would provide their respective inventories from a single source and with an offer that is independent of whether viewers and users are reached via TV or online.

RTL Group recently created a new international advertising subsidiary, AdAlliance, combining its RTL AdConnect, G+J I|MS, and Smartclip sales and media businesses.