Publica by IAS integrates Viant Direct Access for direct CTV buying
Publica by IAS has integrated its ad serving platform with Viant's 'Direct Access' supply path product. This partnership aims to streamline the programmatic CTV buying process for advertisers by reducing intermediaries and improving signal quality across the Publica publisher network, which includes streaming services like Philo.
Key Takeaways
- Integration enables Viant advertisers to bypass multiple intermediary hops when purchasing premium connected TV inventory.
- Streaming service Philo confirmed its participation to provide more efficient advertiser access to its premium supply.
- Advertisers can use IAS Total TV tools for show-level transparency and brand suitability controls within the new supply path.
- Viant reported that 85% of its CTV spend already transacts via Direct Access as part of its supply path optimization strategy.
Why It Matters
This move signals a shift toward supply path optimization (SPO) as streamers seek to protect margins from the 'ad-tech tax' of excessive intermediaries. By shortening the distance between demand and supply, Publica and Viant are addressing buyer demands for better signal fidelity and transparency in a fragmented market. For the broader ecosystem, it pressures independent supply-side platforms (SSPs) to prove value beyond mere connectivity. Watch for the volume of Direct Access transactions to increase as Viant scales these direct-to-ad-server integrations with other premium publishers.
Additional Context
Viant has been moving aggressively to consolidate its reach in the CTV market through direct integrations. In November 2025, per Viant, the company expanded its Direct Access program via a strategic partnership with Magnite’s SpringServe, which similarly allowed for direct-to-ad-server connections. This followed the company's June 2026 launch of an enhanced 'Publisher Solutions' suite, featuring SupplyIQ for signal quality thresholds and IRIS_ID for content-level targeting. According to Viant’s Q4 2024 earnings report from March 2025, full-year revenue grew 30% to $289.2 million, a record driven largely by double-digit growth in CTV spend and the adoption of its Household ID technology. The focus on supply path optimization comes as the CTV market faces a major strategic transition. Per IAB reporting in December 2025, U.S. CTV ad spend was projected to grow to over $33 billion in 2025, yet buyers are increasingly wary of 'multi-hop' reselling that dilutes media budgets. Marketing Dive reported in April 2026 that the IAS Total TV suite is now utilized by major platforms including Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ to provide the granular, 'linear-like' transparency at the program level that advertisers have traditionally found lacking in programmatic buying. Industry analysts at Madison & Wall, as cited by MNTN in June 2025, forecasted that pure-play CTV platforms would capture 23% of all national TV ad spend by late 2025. As this share grows, the integration between Publica’s publisher-side tools and Viant’s buyer-side platform reflects a broader trend of mid-sized ad-tech players aligning to compete against walled gardens. Per Viant, the integration of 1st-party data through its February 2025 acquisition of data platform Lockr further supports this direct-access model by improving addressability without relying on third-party cookies.
Read full article at investing.com
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