Comcast’s FreeWheel and Tegna deepen ad sales relationship

Comcast-owned FreeWheel and Tegna, a U.S. broadcast television station group, set a new multiyear deal to deepen their advertising partnership.

Under the terms of the deal, Tegna will continue 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, Tegna’s connected TV and OTT advertising platform for regional and local advertisers, will keep using FreeWheel’s Strata ad management platform to let agencies access to Premion’s video inventory from more than 125 publishers.

“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 at Tegna, in a statement. “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, in a statement. “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.”

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