Ad agency holding company Interpublic Group has made a deal with AOL's Adap.tv video ad serving unit.
Magna Global, the investment arm of IPG Mediabrands (Interpublic's media buying conglomerate), will partner with Adap.tv to automate up to 50% of Mediabrands' video ad buying.
AOL's recent acquisition of Adap.tv for $405 million now makes a whole lot more sense — IPG Mediabrands' clients spend up to $34 billion a year on ads, and Adap.tv is now the preferred provider for them.
Until now, the AOL-Adap.tv deal didn't look overly spicy. Some say the video server's inventory is riddled with bots and bogus clicks. And investors generally have turned up their noses at video adtech companies.
But with Adap.tv's video adtech at its disposal, and guaranteed clients coming from IPG, AOL is now sitting in front of an ad-spending firehose, potentially.