Cable and telecoms heavyweights' ad tech acquisition spree
Comcast has confirmed its $100m acquisition of France-based video ad tech company, StickyAds.tv. The partnership will boost the programmatic functionality of Comcast's ad tech unit and is hoped to increase its volume of ad sales throughout America and Europe. Verizon and Telenor have also made strategic acquisitions in ad tech to extend their reach, purchasing AOL for ($4.4bn) and Tapad ($360m) respectively.

StickyAds.tv CEO Hervé Brunet. @99hbrunet/Twitter

Comcast has acquired France-based ad video tech company StickyAds.tv, Recode's Peter Kafka first reported on Sunday evening.

Business Insider confirmed the acquisition with a source with direct knowledge of the deal, who declined to give any further details.

UPDATE: Comcast confirmed the acquisition in an emailed press release later on Monday morning (EST,) after this story was originally published.

Doug Knopper, co-Founder and co-CEO, of Comcast's ad server division FreeWheel, said: "We are very excited to make this announcement. We are bringing together two companies who deeply understand the opportunities for the ‘New TV’ ecosystem on both sides of the Atlantic. StickyADS.tv has been a preferred SSP [supply-side platform] partner since September 2015 and in that short time we have been thoroughly impressed by both the quality of their platform and the knowledge of their team."

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. A source outside the company told Business Insider the deal was all-cash and worth at least "$100 million."

StickyAds is an SSP that specializes in helping publishers and TV broadcasters sell their video advertising inventory, both online and on TV.

The company creates private exchanges so its customers can auction their ads directly to premium advertisers using automated tools, lessening the reliance on their human salesforces.

Founded in 2009, StickyAds company has raised $6.11 million in investment to date, according to CrunchBase.

As Recode reported, StickyAds will be integrated into Comcast's FreeWheel ad serving unit once the acquisition is complete. Comcast acquired FreeWheel for more than $320 million back in 2014.

StickyAds gives Comcast's ad tech unit more programmatic functionality, which should help increase the volume of ads it sells. EMarketer predicts US programmatic video ad spend will increase 84.5% this year to $5.37 billion. StickyAds' stronghold in Europe, where it is headquartered, may also help Comcast strike up more ad deals outside the US.

The StickyAds deal is the latest in a series of new strategic buyers from the cable and telco space buying up ad tech companies. Verizon acquired AOL for $4.4 billion last year, for example, and Norwegian carrier Telenor acquired Tapad for $360 million in February of this year.

Comcast's latest acquisition comes just days after its NBCUniversal division announced it plans to buy DreamWorks animation for $3.8 billion.