• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 6, 2025

Basis Technologies’ integration with IRIS.TV enables contextual targeting on connected television (CTV), providing data that has been available for linear TV but not for CTV, the companies said on Thursday in a joint announcement.

IRIS_ID will enable the use of AI-supported data segments across the categories of contextual targeting, emotion, brand suitability and more.

Basis Technologies' interoperable approach with third-party technology aims to ensure customers have the most complete toolset in programmatic advertising.

Since video is a component of a strong media strategy, advertisers look for a better understanding of the contextual relevancy. Tyler Kelly, president of Basis, said IRIS_ID gives marketers technology for real-time data-driven decisions on CTV.

Demand-side platforms usually do not form direct partnerships to collaborate on one campaign. They typically compete for inventory on the supply side, despite advertisers being able to use multiple DSPs simultaneously to access different ad networks and optimize campaigns with different inventory.

IRIS.TV is owned by demand-side platform Viant, but Basis has an open and interoperable approach to working with different companies. Basis' platform consolidates these types of technologies seamlessly.

The two created an interesting partnership, but there are questions beyond what the companies were willing to answer, such as why these companies could not achieve individually what they can as partners, and if the move proves successful, whether they would consider a merger.

The partnership gives advertisers what they need, the companies said, without having to find DSPs on their own. Advertisers want capabilities to target ads based on the nature and type of video content.

Video publishers that have this data need technology to pass the information to programmatic ad platforms that allow marketers to activate larger campaigns.

Through Basis’ connection to the IRIS_ID, advertisers can target campaigns based on specific types of content to which an ad runs in adjacent to each other.