• Teads Acquires Brainient for Personalized, Interactive Video Ads

    Outstream video ad leader Teads has acquired Brainient, whose dynamic creative optimization (DCO) technology enables personalized, interactive video ads. Terms were not disclosed. Brainient aims to deliver customized ads tied to a user’s profile including their geo-location, device, time of day and other contextual information.

    Teads’ executive chairman Pierre Chappaz said that the acquisition was motivated by “advertisers’ interest in leveraging interactive elements associated with their videos to increase user engagement.” While interactivity in video ads has been available for a while, Chappaz believes it’s changing and becoming more compelling with the advent of 360-degree video and virtual reality in particular, which provide more attractive advertising experiences.

    Brainient can access first and third-party data sources in order to dynamically customize video ads. Brainient will be rebranded as Teads Studio and will be available to all of Teads’ marketplace buyers. Teads sees personalized ads as a key differentiator vs. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat which do not currently support interactivity in video ads.

    For more background about the acquisition, Beet.tv has a brief interview with Teads’ CEO Bertrand Quesada.