• by David Goetzl , April 5, 2010

TidalTV, which places ads within online video and uses proprietary data to improve targeting, has a deal giving it access to additional inventory. The agreement allows it to use an online bidding platform from LiveRail to rapidly acquire more inventory for clients as needed.

TidalTV buys inventory on hundreds of sites, while using its optimizer algorithms to place targeted spots for advertisers such as Reckitt Benckiser and GroupM.

But lately, it has been running out of inventory and needs options for swift purchasing, according to Ryan Jamboretz, chief media and development officer. That's where LiveRail comes into play.

"It allows us to tap into big pools of inventory quickly," Jamboretz said.

Privately held LiveRail is effectively an ad-serving company for sites rife with online video. It has launched a bidding system as another sales tool for those publishers.

As TidalTV's decision-making technology notices it needs more video in certain areas, it can quickly turn to LiveRail. That option is swifter than going door to door, so to speak, and negotiating with a run of publishers.

"It lets us turn the spigot on and off as we need it," said Jamboretz. He said TidalTV is looking to partner with more companies offering online bidding, while helping some develop those systems. A bidding platform not only can help a publisher unload unsold inventory but can drive down costs for advertisers.

TidalTV is a 2-year-old Baltimore-based company headed by the founder of Advertising.com. It recently received a $16 million infusion of capital; one of its investors is a Comcast arm.

Its core competency is placing "right ads at right times reaching right people" and has mostly been deployed in the online video arena. However, TidalTV has been making a push into the TV and mobile realms.

San Francisco-based LiveRail was founded in 2007 and backed by venture capital.