LONDON – Equativ is positioning itself for a pivotal period in connected TV and streaming advertising as the industry heads toward consolidation, large-scale live sports and heightened demands on ad-serving infrastructure, said James Grant, SVP of Advanced Television at the adtech company.
Speaking with Beet.TV contributor Robert Andrews at the Future of TV Advertising Global conference, Grant said Equativ has evolved from its roots as France-based Smart AdServer into a global, full-stack monetization platform spanning ad serving, server-side and dynamic ad insertion, supply-side and demand-side technologies.
The company now operates across roughly 16 global markets, with recent growth driven in part by acquisitions and partnerships that have broadened its advanced TV and streaming capabilities.
Building on bedrock of ad-serving
A key milestone was Equativ’s combination with Sharethrough last year, a move Grant said strengthened the company’s value proposition and significantly expanded its footprint in North America. Previous acquisitions include server-side ad insertion specialist Nautilus, as well as DSP businesses LiquidM and DynAdmic.
“Ad serving remains the bedrock foundation of the technology stack,” Grant said, noting that accurate impression counting and reliable delivery underpin all downstream monetization. Publishers, he added, continue to prioritize yield optimization, fill rates and simplified execution as programmatic supply paths mature.
Grant pointed to supply-path optimization as a central trend shaping connected TV and streaming video advertising, alongside growing pressure to reduce friction in transactions while improving targeting and measurement.
“How do I access the best supply in the most frictionless manner possible? That’s what all sides are looking for,” he said.
Partnering with Deutsche Telekom
Looking ahead to 2026, Equativ is placing a major bet on live sports, anchored by a newly announced partnership with Deutsche Telekom. The deal supports the launch of MagentaTV’s sports offering, which will hold exclusive German broadcast rights for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Equativ will provide technology and monetization services for the platform, with a focus on dynamic ad insertion during live matches — a use case that brings heightened challenges around latency and unpredictable traffic spikes.
“Managing unknown traffic volumes in real time is core to what the technology provides,” Grant said, pointing to the rapid audience shifts that occur during pivotal moments in live matches. He added that early test broadcasts on MagentaTV, including a recent Germany qualifier, exceeded traffic forecasts and ran smoothly.
Consolidation in streaming
Beyond the World Cup, Grant said consolidation will continue to define the TV advertising landscape, spanning publishers, content owners and technology stacks. The trend is already visible in moves by major streaming platforms such as Netflix.
At the same time, he expects marquee sports events to refocus industry attention on premium content and large shared audiences after a period dominated by political advertising and fragmented viewing.
“I hope we get a return to content being the key player — great stories, great audiences — with everything else in our industry revolving around that,” Grant said. “The World Cup always brings that focus back to television.”
As 2026 approaches, Equativ is betting that scale, consolidation and live sports monetization will test the limits of ad-tech infrastructure and define the next phase of advanced TV advertising.
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