• by Wayne Friedman , December 7, 2017

Nexstar Media Group is moving further into the digital space, acquiring video ad-tech company LKQD Technologies for around $90 million in cash.

LKQD will help the big TV station company -- which has 170 stations in 100 U.S. markets covering 39% of TV homes -- add hyperlocal digital/ mobile platforms for advertisers to target customers across TV and digital video platforms.

LKQD, a three-year-old company, provides digital video advertising technology for publishers and advertisers, reaching approximately 115 million U.S. online video viewers across desktop, the mobile web, mobile apps and connected TVs.

In the first half of 2017, LKQD tripled the number of customers using its platform and generated year-over-year gross revenue growth of 180%.

The business will be incorporated into Nexstar Digital, the wholly owned unit formed in late 2016, which doubled its third-quarter 2017 revenue to $56.2 million versus the same period last year.

Nexstar Digital includes the companies Lakana, a content management system platform; Kixer, a recommendation engine; and Yashi and Mass, the programmatic platform. It also includes LIN Digital and HYFN digital media agencies.