• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, November 4, 2014

STRATA, a media buying and selling software firm, on Tuesday announced a partnership with iSocket, a "programmatic direct" tech provider. The partnership will give STRATA’s agency partners access to programmatic direct inventory via iSocket, which includes inventory from Condé Nast, Forbes, Reuters and others.

The partnership comes one day after the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released a standard API for programmatic direct trading, dubbed OpenDirect 1.0, representing a large step forward in the adoption of programmatic direct and one that paves the way for the method’s increased usage in the coming years. 

“This partnership allows agencies to have direct access to premium inventory from leading publishers, which adds convenience and accuracy,” stated Joy Baer, president of STRATA. “From RFP (request for proposal) through invoicing, the digital buying process has been streamlined programmatically to help agencies eliminate unnecessary overhead. iSocket’s focus aligns with our goal to make media buying even more efficient for our agencies.”