• by Wayne Friedman , September 26, 2017

Target has signed on as a launch partner for NBCUniversal's self-serve programmatic linear TV offering.

The deal, which the companies say is the first of its kind, will give Target access to NBCU's entire linear TV inventory for audience targeting by the retail store chain.

The programmatic effort is backed by media technology/data company 4C. NBCUniversal is making inventory available through other programmatic TV platforms such as AOL, TubeMogul and Videology.

The self-service technology at 4C allows marketers to plan, buy and measure premium ads across TV and social media. NBCUniversal is the first private marketplace deal for 4C within linear television, enabling Target to leverage its social-media audience affinities across screens.

“This is a watershed moment for advertisers, which have been looking for a way to unlock the power of first-party data in television,” stated Kristi Argyilan, senior vice president of marketing for Target.

The programmatic TV ad-buying effort is part of NBCUniversal’s Audience Studio, its advanced advertising platform. NBCUniversal says it was the first media company to allow national television advertising to advertisers for programmatic ad-buying in February 2016.