PubMatic, a digital ad tech company, and Strategus, a provider of connected TV and omnichannel programmatic advertising, have partnered to help companies access premium live sports and sports-adjacent CTV through PubMatic's unified platform.
The collaboration combines PubMatic’s unified premium publisher access, Live Sports Marketplace, sell-side decisioning, and transparent reporting with Strategus’ white-glove campaign strategy, execution, optimization, and in-flight optimization, attribution, and measurement.
This partnership enables advertisers to do the following:
- Activate campaigns across live games and premium streaming environments through curated programmatic deals.
- Align campaigns with specific sports, leagues, teams, markets, and game windows.
- Apply Designated Market Area (DMA) and, where inventory permits, ZIP-level targeting to make major sports moments locally relevant.
- Extend campaigns across cross-device, sports-adjacent programming, including analysis, highlights, sports news, and pre- and postgame coverage, to reach fans beyond live events.
- Use verified schedule and programming data to increase confidence that ads appear alongside intended content.
- Access program- and placement-level reporting for greater transparency into where campaigns ran.
- Focus investment on the live events most relevant to their audiences, then use sports-adjacent content to extend reach and maintain engagement beyond the game window.
"Brands of every size are looking for more precise, accountable ways to show up in the cultural moments, including sports, that matter most to their customers," said Chrystal Rinkle, vice president of operations at Strategus, in a statement. "Through PubMatic, advertisers can align campaigns with the games, markets, and audiences most relevant to their business objectives. That capability is particularly valuable for challenger brands and SMBs seeking to access premium CTV, a channel that has historically been difficult to activate at scale."
PubMatic and Strategus are also combining verified live-event intelligence, sell-side decisioning across premium inventory, and premium publisher access with fully managed execution. The partnership also expands the addressable opportunity beyond in-game impressions by incorporating cross-device premium sports-adjacent programming, enabling advertisers to connect with fans before, during and after major events.
"PubMatic's unified platform connects the publishers, data, and activation capabilities needed to turn fragmented sports opportunities into transparent, actionable campaigns," said Nicole Scaglione, vice president of CTV/OTT at PubMatic, in a statement. "Together with Strategus, we are making that intelligence available to more advertisers and creating new ways for brands to connect with the fans and moments that matter."