• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, January 10, 2022

Discovery, Inc. is acquiring a minority stake in OpenAP, the advanced advertising joint venture formed by Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS.

Discovery, a supply-side member of OpenAP, was integrated in the company's OpenID identity graph as of last April, and is among the participants in OpenAP's new cross-platform measurement framework, XPm.

Discovery says its investment in the venture means it will be able to contribute to OpenAP’s corporate strategy and product roadmap, and realize further operational and technical efficiencies by activating audiences centrally through OpenAP. 

The investment underscores Discovery's commitment to "building a technical framework that enables cross-platform audience-based buying and creating collaborative support for alternative currency standards," and adds further scale to OpenAP's push to grow the overall market for audience-based advertising, said the companies.

Two Discovery executives will join OpenAP's board: Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer, and Jim Keller, executive vice president, digital ad sales and advanced advertising.

Discovery's $43-billion merger with WarnerMedia, expected to close in this year's first half, was recently approved by the European Commission, and got a favorable ruling from the Internal Revenue Service. 

More than 100 advertisers now use the OpenAP Market for cross-platform campaigns employing advanced audience targeting, according to OpenAP. The company projects that a half-billion in publisher-driven ad sales will run through its platform in its fiscal 2022, representing 140% year-over-year growth.