In a major merger in the adtech and advanced TV industry space, Magnite has acquired SpotX from RTL, the European broadcast giant, for $1.17 billion in cash and stock, the companies announced this morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Later in the morning, Beet.TV did this video interview with Magnite CEO Michael Barrett about the deal and what it means for the industry.<\/p>\n The adtech veteran reflects on the industry’s ups and downs, including unsuccessful IPOs that turned off investors. Also hampering investment had been a widespread perception that Google and Facebook would dominate and there would be no room for big, independent players in adtech. The Trade Desk has proved them wrong, he notes.<\/p>\n The combination of the two companies, which are primarily known as Supply Side Platforms (SSPs) will become an industry powerhouse in a technology which provides video and television programmers and publishers with software to make inventory available to advertisers in an automated, programmatic manner.<\/p>\n RTL acquired<\/a> SpotX in 2017, after owning a controlling interest since 2014.<\/p>\n