Publica

Name

Publica

Legal name

Publica LLC

Website

https://getpublica.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Publica is a CTV advertising technology platform providing unified auction, server-side ad insertion, and ad podding tools to streaming publishers, broadcasters, and TV manufacturers. Wholly owned by Integral Ad Science since August 2021, it serves 6+ billion ads monthly.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

CTV Ad Tech / Programmatic Advertising Platform

NAICS

Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Connected TV (CTV) & OTT Performance Advertising (BPAFACAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Enterprise/Creator Video Hosting & OTT SaaS Platforms (MPACAAAL)

Keywords

• CTV ad serving
• Unified auction platform
• Server-side ad insertion
• Programmatic video advertising
• Connected TV advertising

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. CTV Ad Serving and Technology Fees: Fees calculated based on number of impressions processed and analyzed. The company's reporting and usage statistics are determinative for billing purposes. This is the primary revenue stream from providing the ad server and unified auction platform to publishers.
2. Platform Services and SSAI: Subscription-based access to the platform including ad server, unified auction tools, server-side ad insertion, and reporting capabilities. Fees set forth in Order agreements with customers.
3. Programmatic Transaction Fees: Revenue from facilitating programmatic transactions through the Platform Connect marketplace, enabling publishers to access buyers and sell inventory. Company collects fees from inventory sales on behalf of publishers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Publica provides a connected TV (CTV) advertising platform consisting of an ad server and unified auction engine that enables streaming publishers, broadcasters, TV manufacturers, and vMVPDs to monetize CTV and OTT inventory. The platform combines server-side ad insertion (SSAI), ad podding, audience management, campaign management, and unified reporting with AI-powered ad recognition (Elea AI) to deliver server-side video header bidding at scale.

Product overview

Publica is a CTV advertising technology platform offering a unified platform-plus-modules architecture. The core product is the Publica CTV Ad Server, which provides unified auction, server-side ad insertion (Ad Stitching/SSAI), campaign management, audience management, unified reporting, ad podding, inventory split, and Elea AI capabilities. The platform targets three customer segments through dedicated solution packages: CTV Channels, Virtual MVPDs (TV Service Providers/Manufacturers), and Web/Mobile Publishers. Additional add-on modules include Platform Connect (audience extension), Contextual Segment Manager, and Live Logs. Publica serves over 6 billion ads on CTV monthly and is owned by Integral Ad Science (IAS). Notable capabilities include AI-powered ad recognition via Elea AI and integrations with LiveRamp, IRIS.TV, 15 pre-integrated video SSPs, and the IAS Signal dashboard.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Elea ai: AI-powered ad recognition intelligence that identifies advertisers running programmatic ads, ensuring optimal ad deduplication and frequency capping for seamless CTV ad experiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• Increased Programmatic Revenue by +60%
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability5 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AtresmediacoreTechnology or Integration · 16 September 2022Publica provides CTV unified auction solution for Atresmedia, the leading broadcaster in Spain. Enables unified auction for premium streaming advertising inventory across Atresmedia's platforms.
• Platform Connect EcosystemcoreTechnology or Integration · 6 September 2022Audience extension platform enabling publishers to deploy audience extension strategies at scale without individual buyer and seller contracts. Publishers can become buyers or sellers within the Publica ecosystem accessing trusted sellers and scaled buyer access.
• ANTHYM TechnologiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 August 2022Partnership to power advanced ad tech and manage inventory of ANTHYM's robust coalition of CTV applications and FAST networks. Combines ANTHYM's content aggregation capabilities with Publica's ad decisioning technology.
• Samsung AdscoreTechnology or Integration · 18 August 2022Samsung Ads selected Publica to power CTV ad serving and enhance its streamed content with traditional TV-like viewing experience. Publica enables Samsung to create advanced CTV ad breaks and run unified auctions.
• Hearst TelevisioncoreTechnology or Integration · 28 April 2022Publica provides SSAI and unified auction services for Hearst Television to enhance streamed content with traditional TV-like viewing experience while maximizing revenue.
• Integral Ad Science (IAS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 August 2021IAS acquired Publica to accelerate the next evolution of its publisher business and build a global addressable CTV ad platform. Publica operates as a subsidiary of IAS (NASDAQ: IAS) while maintaining its brand and leadership.
• LiveRampcoreTechnology or Integration · 24 February 2021Expanded partnership bringing increased audience targeting capabilities to CTV publishers and advertisers. Publica is connected to the LiveRamp datastore enabling publishers to leverage segments from any third party data providers on the market. The unique integration enables activation of first and third party audience segments across Connected TV devices.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• LiveRamp: LiveRamp is a data connectivity platform and Publica's key audience data integration partner. While not a direct competitor, LiveRamp's role in CTV identity and audience activation is closely tied to Publica's audience management capabilities and represents an important ecosystem relationship.

Broad incumbents

• MediaMath: MediaMath operates a demand-side programmatic platform with terminalOne ad serving capabilities. While primarily buy-side, it has overlap with Publica in the broader CTV programmatic ecosystem and competes for technology stack share within publisher budgets.
• Pubmatic: PubMatic is a sell-side ad platform offering header bidding and programmatic monetization tools for digital and CTV video publishers. It overlaps with Publica in the unified auction and SSP integration space, with greater scale but broader focus beyond CTV.
• Magnite: Magnite is the largest independent sell-side advertising platform, formed through the merger of Rubicon Project and Telaria, with CTV as a strategic focus. It operates an SSP plus ad server stack that overlaps with Publica's publisher-side monetization offerings while serving a broader market.
• Google Ad Manager: Google Ad Manager is the dominant digital ad serving platform, increasingly extending into CTV video. While not CTV-specialized, it competes with Publica for publisher ad serving budgets and benefits from bundled demand and measurement integrations within Google Ads.

Direct peers

• Innovid: Innovid provides independent ad serving, measurement, and creative personalization technology for CTV and digital video. It competes with Publica in delivering ad serving and analytics to streaming publishers and broadcasters across CTV.
• SpringServe: SpringServe is a video ad serving platform acquired by Magnite, providing unified auction, header bidding, and ad podding for OTT and CTV publishers. It competes head-to-head with Publica in serving AVOD/FAST streaming services and broadcasters with comparable programmatic video capabilities.
• FreeWheel: FreeWheel, owned by Comcast, provides video ad serving and monetization technology for premium publishers across linear TV, CTV, and digital video. It is the most direct competitor to Publica, serving similar broadcasters and streaming publishers with comparable unified auction and SSAI capabilities.

Regional players

• Hulu (Ad Platform): Hulu operates its own CTV ad serving and monetization stack for its streaming platform in the US. While primarily a content owner, its ad tech capabilities represent an in-house alternative that competes with Publica for publisher ad serving mindshare in the US market.

Emerging players

• Beeswax (acquired by FreeWheel): Beeswax offered a bidder-as-a-service platform for video and CTV publishers with customizable auction logic. Now part of FreeWheel, it represents a comparable technical approach to Publica's unified auction and serves as a historical competitor in advanced programmatic auction capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/getpublica
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/13221619

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Publica