Samba TV Announces Acquisition of Semasio, Strengthening its Position in Contextual Targeting

Samba TV Announces Acquisition of Semasio, Strengthening its Position in Contextual Targeting

Strategic Acquisition Deepens Samba TV's Agency and Platform Partnerships and Expands Global Footprint With Semantic Analysis of the Open Web

SAN FRANCISCO - OCTOBER 31, 2024 - Samba TV, the leading provider of TV technology for audience data and omniscreen measurement, today announced its acquisition of Semasio, a global provider of contextual targeting and audience data solutions. This strategic acquisition enhances Samba TV's capabilities in delivering privacy-first targeting across digital and connected TV (CTV) platforms, further solidifying its position as a leader in AI-powered omniscreen advertising.

By acquiring Semasio, Samba TV will expand its global footprint as well as its capabilities for advertisers to define and reach granular audience segments through a unified approach that combines contextual, behavioral, and demographic data. Semasio, with over 100 customers in 50 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, maintains over 1 billion stable user profiles globally and analyzes over 2.5 billion web pages each month, enabling advertisers to optimize campaigns in both ID-based and ID-less environments.

"Our vision is that AI-generated data and insights will create high-performance, privacy-first advertising solutions, so we are doubling down on that with this acquisition," said Samba TV Co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin. "Samba's AI capabilities have been focused on streaming video, but we are now complemented by Semasio's semantic analysis of the open web. While our competitors are faltering or shutting down, we are accelerating and doing so with the power of GenAI as a tailwind for our business, without compromises to data protections and privacy."

The acquisition enables Samba TV to expand the availability of its AI-powered solutions by integrating its video data into Semasio's platform, enhancing advertisers' ability to reach consumers with contextual relevance across digital, mobile, and CTV platforms. The Semasio platform is already widely deployed among programmatic trading desks enabling brands, agencies, and data owners to expand and activate first-party and third-party data at scale in dozens of countries worldwide. This combined offering addresses the increasing need for brands to operate in a cookie-less, privacy-conscious world, where first-party data and contextual intelligence are crucial for success.

"Before this acquisition, we were partners with Semasio and saw huge potential in the platform and for the team behind it," said Samba TV CCO Aden Zaman. "As a first-party data owner, we recognize and appreciate the importance of identity resolution, data distribution, and onboarding. The acquisition of Semasio expands our value proposition to data companies with global reach into the world's most important media platforms."

Combining Samba TV's data and identity solutions with Semasio's global audience and capabilities enables audience and contextual strategies to coexist seamlessly. By integrating Semasio's robust data platform with Samba TV's proprietary omniscreen measurement tools, advertisers will now have access to more precise and comprehensive solutions for campaign optimization and audience engagement across all digital and TV environments.

​​Semasio CEO Jeff Ragovin will be transitioning leadership of the company to General Manager Zac Pinkham. Reflecting on the development, Ragovin, who successfully led Semasio as CEO, remarked: "Joining forces with Samba TV empowers us to fully realize Semasio's vision by expanding investment into our next-generation platform, which seamlessly integrates audience-based and contextual targeting with greater reach across more channels. I'm excited to see how Samba TV's expertise and resources will propel Semasio to new heights."

"We're excited to join forces with Samba TV globally to bring our capabilities to a broader audience," said Pinkham. "Our unified targeting approach, combined with Samba's deep measurement insights and video viewership data, will enable advertisers to achieve greater reach and increased ability to accurately measure the results."

This acquisition reinforces Samba TV's comprehensive AI-based suite of tools to meet the growing demand for precise, scalable, and privacy-compliant targeting solutions across all media channels.

"We are enthused to see Semasio's semantic analysis of the open web come together with Samba AI for streaming video," said National Media Chief Innovation Officer Adam Wise. "The combined footprint creates a contextual targeting powerhouse that can address the most valuable audience attributes marketers care about, while being uniquely specific, scalable and privacy forward."

"As a long-standing partner of Semasio, we're excited by the news that Semasio's semantic targeting capabilities will be combined with Samba TV's comprehensive global first-party data and advanced AI solutions," said Acxiom SVP of Channel Partnerships Martin Wexler. "This integration brings new possibilities to our data activation strategies and will unlock increased value for our clients in their cross-channel marketing efforts."

Semasio will continue to operate as an independent business led by Pinkham who has been appointed general manager. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

About Samba TV

Samba TV has transformed the TV from a pane of glass on the wall to a window into the heart of audiences. We are the global leader in television technology powering real-time insights and audience targeting to enable unparalleled marketing efficiency and effectiveness. Our proprietary first-party data from tens of millions of opted-in televisions, across more than 20 TV brands sold in over 100 countries, provides advertisers and media companies a unified view of the entire consumer journey. Our independent measurement has future-proofed advertising for the next generation, empowering advertisers to connect with their audiences on any platform, across every screen.

About Semasio

Semasio is on a mission to power performance-driven advertising solutions for a privacy-first world. With expertise that lies at the intersection of data, semantic technology, AI and real-time programmatic targeting, we deliver a suite of solutions that enables marketers to effectively reach consumers now and in the future. Operating across 50 countries and delivering contextual targeting in over 30 languages, our capabilities have earned the trust of a diverse and global client base, including Fortune 500 companies, agencies, emerging brands and data partners. Learn more at semasio.com.

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