A&E Television Networks to Use Microsoft's Admira TV Ad Marketplace for Three of its Channels

Microsoft announced last week that it has signed a deal with A&E Television Networks (AETN) that will see the latter using Microsoft's Admira television ad marketplace to help optimize sales of select inventory on its Bio and History International channels (available in 47 million US households) and its History en Espanol channel (available in 29 million US households), starting this month. Microsoft acquired the Admira platform via its purchase of interactive TV and addressable advertising specialist, Navic, back in 2008 (note: the acquisition valued Navic at around $230 million). It announced a similar deal for Admira with NBC Universal, one of AETN's parent companies, last June.

According to Microsoft, the Admira platform will use aggregated, anonymized cable and satellite set-top box viewership data to help advertisers and agencies find the right audiences at the right times across participating AETN programs. The company claims that Admira will enable advertisers and agencies to segment their ad buys simply and effectively, in order to maximize campaign objectives, and that the deal will also see AETN's sales force using the platform as an accountable planning, reporting and verification tool to construct customized media plans. "The addition of AETN channels to our growing footprint further validates not only Microsoft's Admira television marketplace, but also the use of anonymous, set-top box data to substantiate the audience value of television inventory on a national scale," Scott Ferris, general manager of the TV/Video Business Group, Advertiser and Publisher Solutions at Microsoft, said in a prepared statement. "Programmers recognize that data-driven, audience-centric media buying can help them better monetize their inventory and deliver increased value to advertisers and agencies. Television is an increasingly important part of Microsoft Advertising's vision to help advertisers and publishers engage with consumers on any screen, anywhere, at any time." Added AETN's SVP of sales revenue management, Michael Peretz: "We knew from the start we wanted to collaborate with Microsoft and Admira. Admira's dynamic solution will allow us to simplify the sale of our inventory and allow advertisers to benefit from the near-real-time set-top box viewership data to find the audiences they're looking for across our networks and platforms. Models like Admira are the future of selling television."