January 31, 2013 — EL SEGUNDO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–DIRECTV continues to make great strides toward evolving its DIRECTV Everywhere service, with a new digital video ad insertion solution developed in partnership with FreeWheel, the industry’s leading video advertising technology provider.
Through the new partnership, DIRECTV is investing in a core component of the TV everywhere ecosystem, creating a new revenue stream for the platform, which allows customers to access the most popular TV shows and movies anytime, anywhere and on any device.
DIRECTV, its programming partners and advertisers will now be able to reach customers through the big screen and on mobile devices to create a sustainable advertising model on digital platforms. FreeWheel, which helps companies profitably manage advertising and operations across multiple devices, will play a key role in DIRECTV’s design and implementation of their digital ad insertion service scheduled to launch later this year.
“We are constantly looking for new ways to grow our DIRECTV Everywhere platform with the best and most recent content available from top programmers,” said Tony Goncalves, senior vice president, Digital Entertainment Products, DIRECTV. “Being able to offer our programming partners seamless digital advertising will help us secure top content and provide our customers with the most robust ‘everywhere’ product available. FreeWheel is a leader in the industry with an expert management team and is widely used by many programmers, making it a perfect match for DIRECTV.”
“We are proud to welcome DIRECTV to our customer set, which includes over 70 percent of brands found in the standard cable television line-up,” said Doug Knopper, co-founder and co-CEO of FreeWheel. “Our work with DIRECTV allows us to continue our efforts to connect the largest content owners with the broadest distributors to increase video syndication.”
In addition to the commercial agreement, DIRECTV has also taken an equity position in FreeWheel. The investment will enable DIRECTV to have insight into the product roadmap and industry evolution, as well as develop deeper relationships with industry leaders and key partners.
For more information on DIRECTV Everywhere please visit www.directv.com/everywhere.
