TCL and PubMatic partner to enhance live sports advertising

On January 22, 2025, TCL, a leading global television brand, and PubMatic, an independent technology company specializing in digital advertising, announced a partnership aimed at enhancing programmatic advertising for live sports. This collaboration connects TCL’s premium programmatic streaming inventory, including NFL Channel and CBS Sports, with PubMatic’s integrated platform to drive demand and efficiency in advertising. The partnership leverages advanced technology to maximize the value of TCL’s premium inventory and its robust audience base.

According to Jeremy Straight, VP and Global GM of TCL Ads, “TCL provides access to a highly engaged audience of sports enthusiasts.” The partnership allows advertisers to leverage TCL’s premium inventory, which includes the ad-supported TCL tv+ app. This app brings content from NFL Channel, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, FIFA, and Golf Pass to over 24 million viewers. The integration with PubMatic’s platform enables advertisers to connect with this audience in a more targeted and effective way.

PubMatic’s Regional VP of Customer Success for CTV, Abbie Reichner, highlighted the company’s growth in connected TV (CTV). “PubMatic has achieved remarkable growth in connected TV, partnering with some of the most popular streamers, with monetized CTV impressions soaring over 100% year-over-year for three consecutive quarters,” Reichner stated. The partnership with TCL amplifies PubMatic’s reach by integrating TCL’s premium inventory with PubMatic’s expertise in curation and supply path optimization. Together, the companies aim to empower advertisers to connect with highly engaged audiences, delivering precision and efficiency across the live sports digital ecosystem.

The partnership comes at a time when digital viewership of live sports is surpassing traditional pay TV. According to eMarketer, digital viewership in the US exceeded traditional pay TV for the first time in 2024, with 114.1 million people projected to watch live sports digitally in 2025, compared to 82.0 million via television. This shift underscores the growing importance of digital platforms like CTVs for reaching engaged sports audiences. The collaboration between TCL and PubMatic is designed to help brands and marketers capitalize on this trend, ensuring their campaigns reach the expanding audience of digital live sports viewers.

One of the key benefits of the partnership is enhanced targeting. By integrating TCL’s viewership data and premium inventory with PubMatic’s privacy-safe targeting capabilities and curated audiences, advertisers can reach highly engaged sports fans with unprecedented precision. This level of targeting is particularly valuable for advertisers looking to connect with passionate NFL or sports fans. For example, advertisers can optimize their campaigns to reach viewers using TCL devices to watch live sporting events like the NFL Playoffs or the Super Bowl, which is expected to reach 200.5 million US adults in 2025, with 36% of that audience accessing the game via streaming apps.

Another significant advantage of the partnership is supply path optimization (SPO). PubMatic’s advanced SPO technology streamlines the ad buying process, reducing latency and improving campaign performance. This efficiency is crucial in the fast-paced environment of live sports advertising, where timing and precision are critical. Additionally, the partnership offers advanced measurement capabilities. Closed-loop reporting across the entire marketing funnel provides advertisers with valuable insights into campaign effectiveness, enabling them to make data-driven decisions.

The partnership is a featured highlight of PubMatic’s Live Sports HQ, a curation and content hub for advertisers looking to maximize campaigns across live sports and sports-related omnichannel opportunities. The Live Sports HQ on PubMatic.com offers innovative solutions, partnerships, exclusive auction packages, and relevant insights for advertisers. This initiative reflects the growing importance of live sports in the digital advertising landscape and the need for specialized tools and platforms to cater to this dynamic market.

TCL, a leading consumer electronics brand, operates in more than 160 markets worldwide. The company specializes in the research, development, and manufacturing of consumer electronics products, including TVs, audio devices, home appliances, mobile devices, smart glasses, and commercial displays. PubMatic, founded in 2006, is an independent technology company that maximizes customer value by delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future. The company’s sell-side platform empowers digital content creators across the open internet to control access to their inventory and increase monetization by enabling marketers to drive return on investment and reach addressable audiences across ad formats and devices.

The partnership between TCL and PubMatic is a significant development in the digital advertising industry, particularly in the context of live sports. As digital viewership continues to grow, the collaboration provides advertisers with the tools and technology needed to reach highly engaged audiences effectively. The integration of TCL’s premium inventory with PubMatic’s advanced targeting and optimization capabilities represents a strategic move to address the evolving needs of advertisers in the digital age.

The announcement of this partnership on January 22, 2025, comes at a pivotal moment in the advertising industry. With digital platforms increasingly becoming the preferred medium for live sports viewership, the collaboration between TCL and PubMatic is well-positioned to meet the demands of advertisers seeking to capitalize on this trend. The partnership not only enhances targeting and efficiency but also provides valuable insights through advanced measurement and reporting, ensuring that advertisers can optimize their campaigns for maximum impact.

In conclusion, the partnership between TCL and PubMatic represents a significant step forward in the digital advertising landscape, particularly in the realm of live sports. By combining TCL’s premium streaming inventory with PubMatic’s advanced technology and expertise, the collaboration offers advertisers a powerful platform to reach highly engaged audiences with precision and efficiency. As digital viewership continues to grow, partnerships like this will play a crucial role in shaping the future of advertising in the live sports ecosystem.