Stagwell Says Publishers Come First. Its Freestar Deal Now Feeds Principal Media.
Stagwell and Freestar promised the deal would keep a "publisher-first approach." Stagwell's own Owned Media chief says the network selling ads for more than 1,000 publishers will help improve Stagwell's principal media buying.
Read the full investigation on ADOTAT →Key findings
- Stagwell announced the Freestar acquisition on October 26; terms were not disclosed.
- Freestar runs programmatic sales for more than 1,000 publishers generating nearly a billion ad requests a day.
- Freestar joins Stagwell Owned Media, which already holds Ink, ReachTV and Real Clear Holdings.
- When a Stagwell agency bids on Freestar inventory, Stagwell sits on both ends of the auction.
- The announcement describes no firewall over Freestar's bid data, floor prices or publisher yield.
On the record
“Of course it is.”
“It's obvious what is in this for Stagwell but not so much for advertisers.”
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