• by Wayne Friedman , May 13, 2014

Timed to coincide with the beginning of the TV upfront market, ABC is starting up a first-of-its-kind programmatic video sales trial. ABC will work with FreeWheel in launching a sell-side marketer/agency service in a test to be conducted this summer.

Digital video advertising inventory in the programmatic effort will be from ABC Entertainment and ABC News programming, as well as cable network ABC Family. No linear TV inventory will be included in the initial test.

ABC says the programmatic offerings will be limited to “reserved” inventory, meaning that clients will need to commit to spend levels in advance over a defined time period.

Geri Wang, president of advertising sales for ABC, said: “We know how important it is to help our clients create value by making media more targeted and the transaction process more streamlined.”

Trial participants will be testing a variety of data sources to drive ad targeting. “We're especially excited to partner with clients to identify how their first party data can be used to enhance media delivery,” says Wang.

ABC says it will be the first media company to offer premium video through FreeWheel’s FourFronts Programmatic, which was unveiled earlier on Tuesday.