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<\/p>\nWith a nod to the technology legacy of Alexander Graham Bell, AT&T Advertising & Analytics has rebranded itself as Xandr and announced a deal to aggregate and sell the national addressable TV advertising inventory of Altice USA and Frontier Communications.
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The news comes as AT&T convenes The Relevance Conference<\/a> in Santa Barbara to explain how its communications, data and content assets will create the foundation of a national TV marketplace for advertisers and premium content publishers.<\/p>\n \u201cBut as we go forward, what we\u2019ve got to figure out is how do we actually make the advertising less interruptive, more symbiotic to the consumer\u2019s experience and then much more addressable,\u201d Xandr<\/a> CMO Kirk McDonald<\/a> says in this interview with Beet.TV. \u201cHow are we capturing and understanding the moment that a consumer may be going through something and then giving them an ad that is relevant to them in a moment in time? I think the future is going to be more addressable TV and less interruptive TV for advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the new deals with Altice and Frontier, Xandr<\/a> will also collaborate with a4, Altice USA\u2019s advanced advertising business, to help expand a4\u2019s nationwide addressable digital advertising capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cBy aggregating this video inventory from multiple multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), AT&T\u2019s addressable TV offering starts to provide advertisers with a one-stop shop,\u201d Xandr said in a news release<\/a>. \u201cThis allows marketers to reach the audiences they want to connect with most, while improving yield by helping inventory owners compete more effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n Xandr encompasses AT&T\u2019s advanced TV business, AT&T AdWorks, AT&T\u2019s data and analytics business; ATT.net and AppNexus. While the integration proceeds, the AppNexus name will remain as it pertains to the products and services currently in market supporting U.S. and global customers.<\/p>\n In settling on the new brand name for the company, AT&T wanted to be mindful of its legacy while also looking forward. \u201cThe history and legacy of innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, investment all driven toward consumers\u2019 interests has been such a rich part of AT&T\u2019s history for its 142 years,\u201d McDonald notes. \u201cIt\u2019s a company that\u2019s reinvented itself a number of times.\u201d<\/p>\n As a modern-day media company, \u201cWe wanted a name that would capture all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n According to \u201csurveys and on-the-ground ethnographies\u201d conducted for the inaugural Xandr Relevancy Report, 66% of consumers wish advertisements were more relevant to their interests and lifestyle while 57% said ads are not relevant to them. However, consumers recognized the importance of advertising, with 64% of those surveyed believing advertising enables independent voices to be heard on the Internet, while 70% like when ads go beyond just selling a product.<\/p>\n