Samba TV Buys Targeting and Data Firm Semasio

In San Francisco, audience data and omniscreen measurement solutions company Samba TV has announced the acquisition of Semasio, a provider of contextual targeting and audience data solutions.

Samba provides advertisers and media companies with a unified view of the entire consumer journey, using proprietary first-party data from tens of millions of opted-in televisions, across more than 20 TV brands sold in over 100 countries. The company has recently partnered with IRIS.TV to launch new AI-based tools for contextual advertising and measurement, and ad tech firm Kargo to help advertisers target, measure and optimise reach and frequency across mobile and connected TV (CTV) environments.

Now the firm is buying Semasio, which combines expertise in data, semantic technology, AI and real-time programmatic targeting to help marketers reach their target audience. The firm maintains more than 1 billion stable user profiles globally, analyzes over 2.5 billion web pages each month, operates across 50 countries and delivers contextual targeting in more than 30 languages. Samba TV, which has been working with Semasio recently, says the move will enhance its capabilities in delivering privacy-first targeting across digital and connected TV (CTV) platforms, and expand its global footprint.

'Our vision is that AI-generated data and insights will create high-performance, privacy-first advertising solutions', says Samba CEO Ashwin Navin, 'so we are doubling down on that with this acquisition. Samba's AI capabilities have been focused on streaming video, but we are now complemented by Semasio's semantic analysis of the open web. While our competitors are faltering or shutting down, we are accelerating and doing so with the power of GenAI as a tailwind for our business, without compromises to data protections and privacy'.

With the sale, Semasio CEO Jeff Ragovin will pass the leadership of the company to General Manager Zac Pinkham (pictured), who comments: 'We're excited to join forces with Samba TV globally to bring our capabilities to a broader audience. Our unified targeting approach, combined with Samba's deep measurement insights and video viewership data, will enable advertisers to achieve greater reach and increased ability to accurately measure the results'.

Semasio will continue to operate as an independent business. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Web sites: www.samba.tv and www.semasio.com .