Roku has announced a new demand-side platform (DSP) for advanced advertising, OneView, a rebrand of assets acquired in November amid its $150 million acquisition of Dataxu.

Roku, which just upped its tally of active users for its OTT device ecosystem to 40 million, said OneView integrates the reach, inventory and capabilities of Roku advertising with the identity and attribution tools of DSP Dataxu.

Also read: Roku Added 3M Active Users in Q1, Approaches 40M

OneView marries programmatic ad buying with data management, media planning and attribution tools, targeting marketers participating in an OTT advertising market that’s expected to grow by 31% to $5 billion in 2020, according to Magna Global.

“Our goal is to help advertisers and content partners invest for a world where all TV is streamed,” said Scott Rosenberg, senior VP and GM of Roku’s platform business, in a statement. “OneView provides the data and scale across the entire TV landscape so marketers can plan, buy and measure TV advertising and ultimately shift spend to streaming more quickly.”

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Other video companies, including AT&T and Amazon, have their own DSPs, which are used by agencies and brands to purchase ads in channels such as connected TV, display and digital audio, using automation.

Speaking to Ad Age, Jay Porpatich, senior director of growth marketing at booze delivery company Drizly, said OneView gives his company a way to measure complex channels like connected TV. The DSP even offers Drizly insight as to which viewers clicked on the company’s website after viewing an ad.

“Drizly is like a number of DTC brands that has a relatively boring mix of two behemoths—Facebook and Google—with relatively simple means of measuring those guys,” Poropatich told Ad Age. “We knew we had to diversify.

“We’re more interested in understanding the causal persuasion of an ad and whether it results in new customers,” Poropatich added. “Because we have a control audience who just sees our PSA ads on Roku, we can measure lift of an exposed individual versus a non-exposed.”

Analyst, however, wonder if the introduction of yet one more DSP, in the biggest streaming ecosystem in the U.S., will create one more “walled garden.”

“It’s starting to look like these big media companies are setting up more walled-garden style environments than not, where they can run all their own inventory through their pipes and eventually try and restrict buyers to only using their owned platforms,” said Joanna O'Connell, VP principal analyst at Forrester, also to Ad Age.

“That’s not what big buyers are going to want,” she added. “They want platforms that give them more access to more streaming inventory in a single place—this makes it harder for them to do that.”

Roku on Tuesday said it agreed to buy Dataxu, a demand-side advertising platform, for $150 million in cash and stock.

The acquisition will give Roku new tools to let advertisers plan and buy using programmatic technology ad campaigns to reach Roku’s streaming and over-the-top viewers.

“TV advertising is shifting toward OTT and a data-driven model focused on business outcomes for brands,” said Roku CEO Anthony Wood. “The acquisition of dataxu will accelerate our ad platform while also helping our content partners monetize their inventory even more effectively.”

Ad tech and data firms have been merging and getting acquired as demand for over-the-top and streaming video advertising grows. Last week, AT&T’s Xandr unit said it was buying clypd, another ad tech company.

According to media buying firm Magna Global, OTT accounts for 29 percent of TV viewing but so far has only captured 3 percent of TV ad budgets. As viewers continue to migrate to streaming, automated media buying solutions are expected to unlock more advertising investment into OTT, Roku said.

The consolidation of ad data and tech has sparked questions about what the industry will look like in the near future.

"Roku acquiring Dataxu is a complex deal to unpack. On one hand, it's supportive of Roku's aspirations to compete with Amazon and Google. Roku now looks a lot more like those guys. They sell ads. They have a data walled garden. And now they have a self serve buying platform," said Frank Sinton, founder and president of Beachfront, a video ad management platform. 

"On the other hand, there is economics conflict between the Roku and Dataxu businesses. Demand-side platforms work for ad buyers with a goal of driving prices down. Roku is in the business of increasing the yield of its inventory. It will be interesting to see this complex dynamic shakes out. Additionally, it remains to be seen what Roku's strategy will be in terms of monetizing third-party OTT inventory, which will be an interesting development that will impact the broader industry," Sinton said.

Others saw consolidation as a more positive force.

“We continue to see a lot of consolidation in the next generation of TV advertising space, as major players are lining up total solutions – WarnerMedia with Xandr acquisition, and Comcast/NBC initiative, noted  Aman Sareen, CEO of ZypMedia. "We continue to see strong and robust growth and believe that the future for demand-side-platforms is linked to strong integrations and relationships with inventory owners, and strong trusted channels with large national and local advertisers."

"This is a great buy for Roku. They already have one of the largest household audiences with 30mm active account. Dataxu will not only enable them to offer self-service capabilities, but it will also expand their supply side representation. It’s encouraging to see the continuation of the demand getting closer to the supply,” said Morgan Rigsbee, VP, Product, Programmatic at Fluent.

Roku's acquisition agreement with Dataxu has been approved by each company’s board of directors and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Roku will discuss the acquisition on its upcoming third quarter financial results conference call.

Multichannel News announced that dataxu has signed on as a sponsor to the Wonder Women 2018 luncheon event in New York on March 22, 2018.

Dataxu helps marketing professionals and publishers use data to improve advertising. Their software empowers users to connect with real people across all channels, including TV, capturing consumers’ attention.

Wonder Women is an awards celebration and luncheon honoring 13 of cable television and communications most powerful female executives who lead by example and action, inspiring others and helping to create new opportunities for future female industry leaders. A few tickets remain for this nearly sold out event. More information and a full list of this year’s honorees at www.mcnwonderwomen.com.

Sky Plc is getting more involved in the programmatic ad tech game via a $10 million strategic investment in Boston-based DataXu, a maker of marketing analytics, data management and media activation software.

Founded in 2009, DataXu specializes in “programmatic marketing” -- automated, data-based planning and trading of ads across multiple devices and formats. Its customers include well-known brands such as Bose, Lexus, Ford , 3M, Mercedes-Benz, Vodafone and UnityMedia, the German cable operator that’s part of the Liberty Global empire. DataXu claims that its platform can analyze and optimize buying decisions on over 100 billion digital advertising opportunities daily.

With the latest funding, DataXu has raised $76 million so far, per TechCrunch.

Sky said its ad sales division, Sky Media, will also collaborate with DataXu to “explore a number of new opportunities,” including extending the reach of its new cross-screen Sky AdVance product. In 2014, Sky Media launched Sky AdSmart, a product tailored for niche/smaller brands.

"This investment will help us develop a deeper understanding of programmatic advertising, and play our part in shaping the market as it progresses," said Jamie West, Deputy MD at Sky Media, in a statement. "Combining Sky's knowledge, experience and innovation in advertising with DataXu's programmatic marketing expertise will provide exciting opportunities for both businesses, and most importantly, for Sky's advertising partners."

Sky has also made recent investments in OTT and streaming companies such as TV4 Entertainment, Pluto TV, Roku, Whistle Sports, and VR content startup Jaunt.