Comcast has acquired French ad tech company StickyAds for more than $100 million
Business Insider has confirmed the acquisition with a source with direct knowledge of the deal, who declined to give any further details. An official announcement is expected on Monday morning, EST.
A source outside the company told Business Insider the deal was all-cash and worth at least "$100 million."
StickyAds is a "supply-side platform" (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.
Recode reports that 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.