Mediaocean gets investments from Interpublic, Omnicom and WPP

Mediaocean has launched a partner program, initially with Interpublic Group of Cos, Omnicom Group and WPP, which will give the holding companies small equity stakes in the ad tech company and help them integrate some of Mediaocean’s emerging businesses, including its ad serving, creative optimization and ad verification platforms. The deal, dubbed the Certified Service Partner program, provides a significant potential boost for Mediaocean in building its business beyond its widely used ad infrastructure platform, Prisma. That product is an essential component of media planning, buying and billing across the industry, with a role in $200 billion in annual billings and used by more than 100,000 people globally, according to Mediaocean. Michael Kassan’s 3C Ventures served as advisor to Mediaocean on the deal. NextGen Marketing Summit Join us for a crash course on Gen Z, DTC marketing and the creator economy Register today The partner program announcement comes on the heels of the announcement last month that Mediaocean is acquiring Innovid for $500 million, integrating that business under its Flashtalking ad tech platform, which includes ad serving, creative optimization and paid social optimization. Kassan’s 3C Ventures also helped orchestrate that deal. As part of the Certified Service Partners, each of the holding companies will have “a small minority interest” in Mediaocean, according to the company’s statement. Terms of those stakes were not disclosed, but people familiar with the matter pegged the investment as $20 million to $25 million per holding company. A Mediaocean representative declined to comment. That will put the holding companies in what might be seen by some as a conflict of interest—owning a piece of a company providing services that ultimately will be sold to marketer clients. Kassan, in an interview, noted that the relationship is being fully disclosed at the outset. “They’re making an investment in something that’s going to ultimately be beneficial for the clients and gives them more than a rooting interest,” Kassan said. Another person familiar with the matter said the idea isn’t to incentivize holding companies to push Mediaocean technology on clients, but to help build the technology and let clients make their own ad tech choices. Holding company representatives either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment by deadline. Media measurement blog Tracking TV, social and digital updates Click here Other holding companies or agencies not part of the initial Certified Service Partner announcement may join eventually, and talks are ongoing with some additional parties, Kassan said. Mediaocean’s core Prisma business doesn’t need much additional wind at its back, as it’s already widely used across the industry. The CSP program provides a boost for Mediaocean in other businesses that are far more competitive, including omnichannel ad serving and creative optimization, where it’s either a relatively smaller player or stands to build a bigger role at a time of industry flux. Flashtalking competes in an ad serving space where the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit could bring changes for one of the leading players, Google’s Display and Video 360. Mediaocean is currently one of the smaller players in an ad verification and brand safety monitoring business that includes DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science and Human Security. Another of the leading players in that space, Oracle, abruptly exited earlier this year.

Mediaocean gets investments from Interpublic, Omnicom and WPP

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