News Corp takes $10m stake in AppNexus as part of a wider $31m funding round for the adtech outfit
Programmatic advertising outfit AppNexus has closed a $31m round of funding, with News Corp now among its major investors, furthering its interest in adtech by contributing $10m to the latest round.
News Corp's brands will use Appnexus' adtech products.
The announcement was made today (28 September) and follows last week’s $1bn IPO from fellow adtech outfit The Trade Desk.
As part of the partnership, AppNexus’ full suite of technology products are being made available to News Corp's media brands, several of which already employ the AppNexus SSP and Yieldex Analytics, including Dow Jones, News UK, and News Corp Australia.
Commenting on the update, AppNexus president Michael Rubenstein said: “Today’s announcement signals our joint commitment to innovation over the long term. As News Corp accelerates its digital expansion, AppNexus will provide leading-edge technology.”
David Brinker, senior vice president and head of business and corporate development at News Corp, added: “As individual businesses in our company started adopting AppNexus products into their technology stack, we gained further appreciation for their services. We are pleased to invest in AppNexus as we continue our partnership across our news, real estate and technology assets.”
The announcement also augments AppNexus’ existing relationship with Unruly, a video advertising technology company that News Corp acquired in September 2015. Under that partnership, buyers and sellers of outstream inventory enjoy both the reach of AppNexus’ video buying platform and the quality and scale of Unruly’s viewable video SSP UnrulyX.