We’re pleased to announce iSpot.tv, the real-time cross-platform TV ad measurement company, today announced it has signed an agreement with funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (“Goldman Sachs”) for a $325 million investment.

iSpot, which has raised $58 million since being founded in April 2012, now generates over $100 million in annual recurring revenues. Through its proprietary technologies and extensive collaboration with more than 400 of the largest brands and media networks in the U.S., iSpot’s digital approach to cataloging and measuring TV ads on linear and streaming has earned wide adoption and trust for its speed, scale, precision and actionability. The company’s unique ability to measure full funnel activity enables advertisers to understand the brand impact of ad creative, the business outcomes that happen as a result of exposures and provides second-by-second transparency into TV investments.

“This team has modernized TV measurement and has achieved a lot of groundbreaking innovations for the industry in our first ten years in business,” said Sean Muller, CEO of iSpot. “As we enter our second decade, the investment and support from Goldman Sachs will help fuel the next generation of innovations and accelerate our ability to be the trusted cross-screen currency of choice.”

Goldman Sachs’ acquisition of a significant minority stake comes as iSpot’s utility as a TV currency is gaining adoption. iSpot recently completed 60 currency pilots between NBCUniversal, agency holding companies and brands surrounding the Olympics, Super Bowl and Q1 inventory across NBCU linear and streaming properties. In March, NBCUniversal named iSpot a preferred trading currency for the 2022 Upfront season, and WarnerMedia and Paramount utilized iSpot in a currency pilot for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

“We have been very impressed with iSpot’s world-class data analytics software platform and proprietary systems which have been purpose-built for the increasingly dynamic video measurement space,” said Leonard Seevers, Partner and Head of Media Investment for the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “We are incredibly excited to partner with Sean and the iSpot team to drive long-term growth and value creation together.”

The investment will be deployed to accelerate growth and adoption of real-time, cross-platform TV ad verification, audience measurement and performance metrics for the buy and sell side. That includes scaling engineering and product development, expanding the sales and customer success footprint, continuing to enhance the currencies for the marketplace to transact on for TV and video, and acquiring complementary businesses.

LUMA advised iSpot.tv on the transaction.

LUMA is pleased to announce that TV Squared Limited (“TVSquared”), an independent global measurement and attribution platform for converged TV, and Innovid, a leading independent connected TV (CTV) advertising delivery and measurement platform, have entered into a definitive agreement in which Innovid will acquire TVSquared in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $160 million.

Innovid aims to provide the most complete view of the total TV and digital universe through a scalable, currency-grade measurement platform. The deal allows Innovid to immediately accelerate and broaden their global scope, as brands, agencies, publishers, and broadcasters on six continents rely on TVSquared to maximize reach, identify the right audiences and drive business growth with TV.

Innovid and TVSquared share complementary visions to transform TV measurement through a comprehensive view of audiences across all devices and platforms worldwide. Joining forces establishes a cross-platform measurement solution that maps one of the largest datasets of audiences, homes, and devices, at scale, across linear, CTV, and digital video.

The combined entity will represent buy- and sell-side customers and process billions of impression events daily. The joint offering will include ad serving, creative personalization and optimization, outcomes and audience measurement, including reach, frequency and unique unduplicated reach, for the total TV and digital universe.

LUMA advised TVSquared on the transaction.

LUMA would like to congratulate Adam Foroughi, Herald Chen, Idil Canal, Jordan Satok and the entire AppLovin team on their strategic move – the acquisition of MoPub from Twitter.

Please check out their blog post if you haven’t had the chance to learn more about AppLovin’s plans to deliver even more value to the ecosystem with their software platform: AppLovin Blog.

We are grateful for the opportunity to be part of the transaction and look forward to the continued success of AppLovin, MoPub and their customers through this combination!

We’re pleased to announce that Reflektion, an AI-powered digital search platform that understands and predicts patterns, context, and needs in order to convert shoppers into buyers has been acquired by Sitecore®, the global leader in digital experience management software. The combination of Sitecore and Reflektion enables Sitecore to engage, educate, and empower shoppers to make purchase decisions faster – increasing buyer confidence, long-term revenue, and overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The acquisition – a continuation of Sitecore’s ongoing $1.2 billion growth plan – will help marketers solve the information overload that is characteristic of traditional search solutions, which leave customers unable to find and select the right product. 93% of all online experiences start with search, making it an integral part of the customer buying journey, and Reflektion elevates search into a conversational, guided experience that provides more personal, accessible, and tailored answers for the customer. Reflektion’s platform can be leveraged across all aspects of the Sitecore digital experience platform, from transforming product data into understandable consumer-friendly language to understanding shopper intent, behavior, and product preferences.

“Search is about more than just entering words into a box and hoping for the right results – it is the cornerstone of a digital experience. With Reflektion, a brand can add various types of search including personalized search, preview search, conversational search, and voice search,” said Steve Tzikakis, CEO at Sitecore. “This reduces customers’ effort and anxiety to find exactly what they need – with more convenience and speed – and leads to increased customer satisfaction with more conversions and revenue. Acquiring Reflektion reinforces Sitecore’s position as the leader in digital experience technologies that meets customers in the moment with more relevant, intuitive, and human experiences.”
Reflektion includes complementary Commerce, AI and personalization capabilities that, alongside Sitecore’s acquisition of Four51, Boxever, and Moosend, offer even more power to seamlessly deliver targeted intelligent, personalized and real-time information across channels.

“Since its inception eight years ago, Reflektion has become recognized for its unique approach to search-product discovery technology. Our technology uses AI to adjust each consumer’s digital experience, in the moment, based on diverse data from multiple channels,” said Amar Chokhawala, CEO & Founder at Reflektion. “I am proud of the passionate team at Reflektion who has been successful in bringing our AI-first approach to many site-search deployments for large e-commerce and retailers’ websites. With Sitecore, the Reflektion team and customers will be able to continue to leverage the enhancement of digital experiences, leading to continued growth and results for all.”

LUMA advised Reflektion on the transaction.

We are pleased to announce that Integral Ad Science (Nasdaq: IAS), a global leader in digital media quality, announced that it has acquired Publica LLC (“Publica”), the connected TV advertising platform, in a cash and stock deal valued at $220 million. With this acquisition, IAS is accelerating its CTV strategy to help publishers better monetize their video programming across CTV devices, while building new tools to provide advertisers with much-needed transparency into the quality of this inventory.

“CTV viewership and programmatic advertising have skyrocketed, and by acquiring Publica we’re accelerating our growth to offer publishers the tools to capitalize on this opportunity,” said Lisa Utzschneider, CEO, IAS. “Advanced data and technology will fuel the future of addressable CTV advertising. Now video publishers can increase their revenue, and in the future we will help advertisers with a trusted way to measure the results of their growing CTV budgets. In fact, Publica reports that publishers using its platform have seen on average a 30% lift in yield for their CTV inventory. I welcome Ben and the Publica team as we innovate together to increase CTV advertising quality and impact.”           

Publica is a leading Connected TV (CTV) ad platform and works with many of the world’s biggest broadcasters, TV manufacturers, and OTT apps. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Publica provides solutions for publishers to maximize revenues across their CTV inventory through key solutions including a Unified Auction, Ad Pod Management, Audience Management, and Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI). Publica serves over 3 billion ads on CTV every month. By acquiring Publica, IAS adds a talented team with decades of experience building leading video CTV advertising products, while delivering results for some of the world’s largest publishers. Publica Co-Founder and CEO, Ben Antier, will now report directly to Lisa Utzschneider. The Publica brand will become part of IAS’s product portfolio.

“Audiences have already switched to watching CTV and more ad-supported content than ever; by joining IAS, we’re offering a trusted platform for brands and publishers to drive more ad dollars towards CTV,” said Ben Antier. “We have a joint vision to transform CTV advertising with a data-driven approach that benefits the entire industry, while delivering an exceptional user experience.”

LUMA advised Publica on the transaction.