Thanks to a new partnership, programmatic media buyers will be able to access Unruly Media‘s premium video inventory through any DSP that is integrated with Casale Media‘s Index Platform.
Toronto-based Casale will act as a conduit between buy-side platforms like Turn, MediaMath and Eyereturn, and Unruly’s programmatic exchange. The deal gives Unruly a way to rapidly scale demand as it makes the transition to a programmatic sales model.
Unruly, a media platform that aggregates and sells social video, has historically sold publisher inventory based on a closed network model, but recently launched a new private programmatic exchange, UnrulyX. When any new exchange launches, it needs to attract demand by integrating with buyers’ DSPs. The process can be long and arduous, and with dozens of DSPs in the market there’s often a long queue of platforms waiting to be integrated, which means buyers using those platforms aren’t buying Unruly inventory.
The deal with Casale neatly circmuvents this process. By integrating with Casale, Unruly connects with every DSP already integrated with the two-year old Casale Index Platform. Any buyer that uses a DSP connected to Casale — which includes all the major players and most minor ones — can immediately access Unruly inventory.
Casale, meanwhile, benefits from a revenue-sharing agreement, and boosts the amount of premium video inventory available to its buyers.
“It’s all about video — we’re incredibly bullish, the timing [of the Unruly deal] is perfect,” said Alex Gardner, Casale’s VP, platform solutions. “We see significant dollars on the sideline looking for a home… but we’re confident we can find a solution where we’re bringing that premium video solution to the marketplace, and capitalizing on those dollars looking for a home.”
He said Unruly also has a large supply of international (non-U.S.) inventory, which helps Casale build its international reach, another major objective for the company. In July Casale made a similar partnership with Smart Ad Server, to channel demand to premium video in Europe.
In order to facilitate its international expansion, Casale has been investing heavily in infrastructure to handle international demand, and has been working to integrate with DSPs used by buyers in international markets.
Gardner said now the deal is in place, Casale will largely “fade into the shadows” from the perspective of buyers accessing Unruly. They will be able to use their DSP to seamlessly access UnrulyX as though they were connected directly. Casale does not charge a buy-side fee, so buyers will not be losing an extra over-the-top cut on media they buy through Casale versus directly from Unruly.
Casale and Unruly, which are both in the business of aggregating publisher inventory and both operate programmatic exchanges, would generally be considered competitors in the sell-side space. But, Gardner said, in today’s programmatic ecosystem competitors are finding ways to collaborate and drive scale. Thanks to increased efficiency, those partnerships can help both platforms boost their business without increasing the cost to the advertiser through daisy-chain margins.
“In the programmatic world, this notion of black-and-white competitor has become a lot more grey,” he said. “We have definitely capitalized on those opportunities to extent that, on the display side, we have partnered with dozens of enterprise sellers. We intend to extend that strategy into video as well.”
