Ooyala Acquires Interactive Platform Nativ To Solve Video Ad Creative Complexities

Video content management and distribution platform Ooyala has acquired Nativ, a London-based interactive video ad platform that helps brands and media companies manage TV and video content and ad creative. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The purchase comes after Ooyala’s acquisition of European video supply-side platform Videoplaza and the formation of its Ooyala Ad Tech business unit.

Ooyala now has Videoplaza’s programmatic exchange prowess as well as Nativ’s solution designed to solve complexities in video creative.

“As a brand, I want to be able to keep track of whether I’m producing [content] for Snapchat Discover, Facebook, Twitter Amplify, my own owned-and-operated properties or for branded content,” said Jonathan Wilner, VP of products and strategy for Ooyala.

“We can’t be stuck where all we’re doing is repurposing completed [TV] content and [instead] have something that moves up-stack to the point of production.”

Brands like luxury automaker Audi use Nativ to determine how different types of creative (subtitles or no subtitles, for example) affected different customer actions.

Publishers and broadcasters like ITV also use Nativ’s multiscreen ad platform Mio to manage things like content versioning and syndication, and to determine who tuned in on what platform.

With the addition of Nativ's 30 employees, Ooyala now has 550 employees globally, with a particular strong presence in EMEA, given Videoplaza’s European roots and Nativ’s UK footprint. According to an IAB report issued Monday, £1 billion in ad spend is traded programmatically in the UK.

Wilner sees huge growth in the UK in particular, as its citizens move to over-the-top or IP-based TV. He noted UK broadcast powerhouses like British Sky Broadcasting and the BBC are distributing more video content digitally.

“You see the largest player in the market with a terrific offering that people are increasingly viewing on different devices,” Wilner said. “The market is vibrant.”

Ooyala’s purchase of Nativ comes less than a year after it was itself bought by Australian telco Telstra.