• by Alex Weprin , February 15, 2018

The race toward automated media buying, selling and placement on TV has a new player: the video advertising platform Brandzooka, which this week rolled out a self-serve ad platform for connected TV devices.

“Basically the platform unleashes a Facebook-level, barrier-free platform to deliver OTT ads on premium ad units, and Brandzooka’s technology delivers high-performing media buys without the media buyer. It’s pretty cool stuff,” Brandzooka CEO Aquiles La Grave told Digital News Daily.

It works like this: users select a specific channel available through a streaming service like Sling TV, or a genre category like entertainment or sports. Brandzooka than looks for searches for inventory across different OTT bundles and standalone streaming services. The service works on connected devices like Roku and Google Chromecast, and on streaming services like Sling or apps from specific channels.

Brandzooka, which was co-founded by Alex Bogusky in 2016, has up to this point focused on video advertising delivered through more typical digital channels.

What makes the company’s pitch particularly relevant to marketers is the price point. While traditional TV ad buys can cost thousands of dollars or more, the more targeted campaigns the new product offers can start at $35, with the ads appearing on the same channels that are distributed linearly.

"This is what wholesale market disruption of the media monopoly looks like. If I were a professional media buyer, I would drop a brick," La Grave added.