FOX and The Trade Desk announce deeper collaboration in Addressable Advertising

Fox Corporation (FOX) and The Trade Desk (TTD) yesterday announced an expanded partnership focused on advancing addressable advertising solutions. This collaboration leverages industry standards like Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) and OpenPath to enhance ad targeting precision and streamline access to FOX's premium content inventory for advertisers using The Trade Desk platform.

Addressable advertising allows advertisers to target specific audience segments based on demographics, interests, and online behavior. This approach stands in contrast to traditional broad audience targeting, offering advertisers the potential for increased campaign effectiveness and return on investment (ROI).

However, the effectiveness of addressable advertising hinges on a robust identity infrastructure. The industry is currently transitioning away from third-party cookies, which have historically been used for user identification, due to privacy concerns. Initiatives like UID2 aim to establish a more privacy-conscious alternative for audience identification.

FOX and The Trade Desk: A Strategic Partnership

FOX's commitment to addressable advertising is evident in their early adoption of UID2 and OpenPath within their Tubi ad platform (acquired by FOX in 2020). This partnership expands this approach by integrating these technologies across FOX's entire portfolio, encompassing brands like FOX Sports, FOX Entertainment, and FOX News Media.

The integration of UID2 offers several advantages for advertisers:

• Improved Targeting Precision: UID2 allows advertisers to target specific audience segments with greater accuracy, potentially leading to a higher return on ad spend.
• Privacy-Conscious Targeting: UID2 is designed to prioritize user privacy by employing pseudonymized identifiers instead of directly identifiable information.

OpenPath, a platform developed by The Trade Desk, offers an additional benefit for advertisers:

• Simplified Inventory Access: OpenPath facilitates a more streamlined process for advertisers to access FOX's premium inventory directly through The Trade Desk platform.

This collaboration between FOX and The Trade Desk holds promise for both advertisers and the advertising industry as a whole:

• Advertisers: Can leverage FOX's premium content to reach targeted audiences with greater precision and potentially improve campaign performance while adhering to evolving privacy standards.
• FOX: Gains wider access to advertiser demand through The Trade Desk platform, potentially increasing revenue opportunities for their content.
• Advertising Industry: The partnership contributes to the development and adoption of industry-wide standards like UID2, fostering a more sustainable and privacy-focused advertising ecosystem.

Looking ahead, the success of this expanded partnership will likely depend on the effectiveness of UID2 in facilitating accurate and privacy-preserving audience targeting. The integration of OpenPath also holds promise for streamlining programmatic ad buying across FOX's extensive content portfolio.