Benzinga | Jan 7, 2021 06:06AM EST

TEGNA Announces New Multi-Year Partnership with FreeWheel, A Comcast Compay

Today, TEGNA, Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) and FreeWheel, a Comcast Company (NASDAQ:CMCSA), announced a new multi-year deal to further transform and automate the way TEGNA's buyers and sellers transact, including through CTV/OTT advertising platform Premion.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210107005257/en/

Under the terms of the deal, TEGNA will continue working with FreeWheel to help enhance business operations in several different ways, including using FreeWheel's Strata platform to process electronic orders through ePort, an automated platform that enables purchasing ads from local television stations. TEGNA currently connects with agencies through FreeWheel's ePort platform, enabling its sellers to receive electronic orders from buyers, send makegoods back to the buying platform, and receive revisions electronically.

Premion, an industry-leading CTV/OTT advertising platform for regional and local advertisers, will continue to use FreeWheel's Strata ad management platform to enable more than 1100 agencies access to Premion's video inventory from 125+ premium publishers. FreeWheel's marketplace-based technology enables Premion to further enhance its advertising operations, facilitate automation, and increase agency access to its OTT inventory.

The companies have also committed to continuing their joint innovation initiatives, with a specific focus on working on new marketplace-based technology to enhance programmatic transactions and inventory acquisition.

"The media industry has transformed over the past decade, and through our partnership with FreeWheel, we continue to show our customers that we are an industry leader," said Kurt Rao, chief technology officer, TEGNA. "Agencies are relying on automation more than ever. With FreeWheel, we are able to process orders more quickly and more efficiently for our agency partners across our marketing and advertising solutions, including Premion."

"Advertisers are seeking efficiencies and simplicity in the planning and buying of CTV/OTT campaigns and our FreeWheel partnership facilitates the automation of buyer workflows," said Tom Cox, president of Premion. "We look forward to strengthening this relationship to provide brands and marketers with more convenience, control, and broader access to Premion's premium OTT inventory via the FreeWheel Agency platform."

"At FreeWheel, we pride ourselves on our ability to build more efficient and streamlined connections between buyers and sellers," said Ian Banks, business development manager, FreeWheel. "Through our partnership, TEGNA and Premion are able to offer clients a completely automated and efficient experience from start to finish -- including advanced capabilities like data-focused solutions. This is the future of our industry."