• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 6, 2020

Ampersand -- the TV ad sales and technology firm owned by Charter, Comcast and Cox, will act as the exclusive seller of Verizon Fios’ addressable TV inventory, the companies announced.

Ampersand will also use Verizon Media’s DSP as its primary buying platform for CTV and OTT inventory. 

By combining Fios’s addressable inventory with the addressable inventories of Charter, Comcast and Cox, the deal will increase Ampersand’s addressable footprint to 42 million U.S. households representing more than 60% of the country’s addressable households.

In addition to providing a “simple and consistent” way for buying linear and addressable TV audiences at scale through Ampersand’s AND Platform, the deal includes Verizon Media’s providing access to Verizon Fios TV addressable inventory through the Verizon Media DSP. That DSP will be the sole programmatic trading platform for Fios.

This is the first time Verizon Media is opening up addressable TV inventory in its DSP.

“For advertisers who already buy on Verizon Media’s DSP, this addition enables broader TV buys to be aligned with their connected channel views,” according to Verizon.

The Ampersand agreement follows news earlier this week that Verizon Media is now adding native advertising to its DSP, which already reaches consumers across mobile, desktop, video, CTV, digital out-of-home and audio, as well as addressable.