MIAMI — It’s the behemoth media platform that has a hand in perhaps around 40% of US TV ad spending, if numbers are to be believed. So why do so few people talk about WideOrbit?
The San Francisco-based company offers a software platform that handles scheduling, billing, content management and invoicing for mostly local TV ads around the US. In this video interview with Beet.TV, WideOrbit CEO and founder Eric Mathewson talks about the company’s footprint:
- “90% of TV station ad dollars in the US operate on our platform.”
- That’s 3,300 stations.
- They account for $30bn in ad spend, Mathewson says.
- WideOrbit also has a third of US cable networks.
- Plus, a third of radio stations.
- And it now handles 120bn monthly digital impressions.
Buyers plug in to WideOrbit using systems including TubeMogul, TradeDesk, Wywy, iViewDigital plus 18 other signs providers, direct placements and agency trading desks.
But Mathewson is hot on programmatic authenticity. “We don’t use segmented inventory,” he says. “Most companies holding themselves out to be a programatic seller have only a segmented inventory, doing it where they’re more or less putting a technology front-end on a manual process.
“I call that fauxgrammatic, it’s a faux process, not a true programmatic process.”
