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Our colleague Andrew Blustein reported how Verizon Media struck a deal with Dish Media to boost the telco-owned media operation’s addressable TV audience by 7 million households.
In a sense, it’s almost a redemptive story, especially given headlines elsewhere this week, and arguably a sign that telecoms operators can house functioning media operations.
Consider two years ago when the U.S.’s largest telco was reportedly looking to spin-off Oath, following its multibillion shopping spree that saw it envelop two of the most iconic names of the internet’s early era: AOL and Yahoo. Two years later, now in the guise of Verizon Media, it is cutting deals to complement its existing units, such as FiOS TV.
Memories of the 2018 headlines were stirred this week when it was (similarly) reported that AT&T has contemplated a sale of Xandr—a unit that’s largely the result of its $1.6 billion purchase of AppNexus in 2018—with executives at the telco supposedly frustrated at the thin margins involved in ad tech.
Again, this is just another reminder of how difficult it is to make a scaled ad-tech offering work, especially embedding them in outfits where a media business model is not embedded in their DNA. However, as the industry rides the wave of the converged TV revolution, it could be argued that all good things come to those who wait.
Consider joining us at Adweek’s second Convergent TV Summit, a virtual event scheduled to be host on October 13, where we'll discuss this and more.
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Fun Fact: Dozens of brands will advertise their job openings instead of sales Labor Day Weekend.
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