Bell and Xandr Join Forces to Create Canada’s First Self-Serve Advertising Platform for TV and Digital

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bell, Canada’s largest communications company, today announced a strategic alliance with advanced advertising technology company Xandr to leverage its world-leading platform to deliver a proprietary omni-channel demand-side platform (DSP) for advertisers.

The new Bell Media product, branded SAM DSP and powered by Xandr’s buying platform, Xandr Invest, will enable Canadian advertisers to easily plan, run and measure scaled, targeted campaigns using premium inventory over multiple platforms and channels.

“We are building a best-in-class self-serve platform for our advertising partners that brings together industry-leading data assets and technology,” said Nauby Jacob, Senior VP, Product Platforms for Bell Media. “Combined with our SAM platform, Xandr’s end-to-end technology offers critical benefits and capabilities to advertisers. Employing machine learning and our privacy-compliant data insights, it’s an innovative approach that provides the efficiency, transparency and reporting required to maximize advertisers’ linear and digital investments and achieve business outcomes that matter.”

SAM DSP is a valuable enhancement to Bell Media’s Strategic Audience Management (SAM) suite of data-enabled tools, which offers marketers and advertisers the ability to identify, understand and connect with the right audiences, enabling new capabilities to target potential customers on the right platforms. The alliance will deliver increased automation functionalities and leverage data to facilitate new and easier media buying capabilities. The platform, available to all advertisers and agency partners in Canada, will also be leveraged by Bell Canada for its own programmatic advertising needs.

“Xandr champions a collaborative approach to creating open platform solutions in scaled, premium marketplaces around the world. We’re thrilled to work with Bell Media in our shared commitment to advancing trust and transparency in advertising, while giving buyers the effectiveness and reach they seek,” said Mike Welch, EVP & GM of Xandr. “Bell’s SAM DSP is designed to meet the needs of marketers by combining global expertise and local knowledge for advertising solutions that are not being addressed in the market today.”

“By creating new opportunities for advertisers in the Canadian ecosystem, SAM DSP will become the premier destination for planning, activating and measuring media across a variety of formats and channels,” said Stewart Johnston, Senior VP, Sales & Sports for Bell Media. “Bell Media is committed to making it easier for customers to do business with us, and with SAM DSP we’re doing just that – significantly increasing the ability of advertisers to achieve maximum value from all our data and technology assets.”

The agreement also sees an expansion of Bell Media and Xandr’s relationship on the sell-side, to enable greater scale, transparency and ease-of-use for buyers on the SAM DSP. As more premium inventory moves from direct channels to programmatic channels, advertisers are moving from open exchanges to private marketplaces as they look for better and more reliable access to premium inventory. Bell Canada is leveraging Xandr’s sell-side platform (SSP), Xandr Monetize, as a preferred SSP for Bell Private Marketplaces across programmatic inventory.

About Xandr

A business unit within AT&T, Xandr powers a global marketplace for premium advertising. Our data-enabled technology platform, encompassing Xandr Invest and Xandr Monetize, optimizes return on investment for both buyers and sellers. For more than 143 years, AT&T has used data and technology to inform and improve the consumer experience. More information about Xandr’s products and services is available at Xandr.com.

About Bell Media

Bell Media is Canada’s leading content creation company with premier assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising, digital media, and more. Bell Media owns 35 local television stations led by CTV, Canada's highest-rated television network, and the French-language Noovo network in Québec; 27 specialty channels, including leading specialty services TSN and RDS. Bell Media is Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 215 music channels including 109 licensed radio stations in 58 markets across the country, all part of the iHeartRadio brand and streaming service. Bell Media owns Astral, an out-of-home advertising network of 50,000 faces in five provinces. The country’s content distribution leader, Bell Media develops and operates websites, apps, and online platforms for its news and entertainment brands; video streaming services Crave, TSN Direct, and RDS Direct; and multi-channel network Much Studios. The company owns a majority stake in Pinewood Toronto Studios and a minority interest in Montréal’s Grande Studios; is a partner in Just for Laughs, the live comedy event and TV producer; and jointly owns Dome Productions Partnership., one of North America’s leading production facilities providers. Bell Media is proud of its role in fostering diversity and inclusion with equity-seeking groups within the company and across Canada’s media industry. Bell Media is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company. Learn more at BellMedia.ca.