smartclip Nordics Extends Rakuten Advertising Partnership

We are thrilled to announce the extension of our partnership with Rakuten Advertising in the Nordic region. Rakuten Advertising provides advertisers and agencies access to inventory on the Rakuten TV Advertising Video on Demand (AVOD) service as part of its unified media portfolio. Rakuten TV was launched in 2009, formerly known as Wuaki.tv. Today, it provides a full universe of home entertainment combining Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD), Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD), and free AVOD. The offering provides access to free channels and movies in 42 countries across Europe. This continued collaboration coincides with the recent local market launch of Samsung TV Plus — a free streaming service available on the latest smart TV devices from top manufacturers. Rakuten TV represents a key content partner for Samsung TV Plus, through their contribution of a range of channels and content, and coordination of monetisation strategy.

Our extensive experience and proven track record in online video sales provides a solid foundation for our strong, ongoing alliance with Rakuten Advertising. The partnership and access to Rakuten TV inventory has strengthened our Connected TV (CTV) offering across all Nordic markets, which is currently experiencing high levels of demand. In light of the rise in AVOD services, we expect CTV to become an integral part of the advertising mix. Combining this with our existing portfolio and broadcaster inventory, we now offer unparalleled “large screen” inventory across the Nordic region.

“We are delighted to further extend our partnership with Rakuten Advertising enabling access to Rakuten TV inventory here in the Nordics. It is significant that in this market development we are seeing two connected TV powerhouses teaming up to achieve scale and volume in these European markets.” said Stephen Byrne, Executive Director, New Partnerships Europe at smartclip. “We expect that media owners will continue to look to form strategic alliances in the future to drive their growth and smartclip is ideally positioned to help these CTV alliances thrive in Europe. With Rakuten Advertising, we look forward to growing our partnership together in the years to come.”