Advertising and analytics company
Xandr, Inc.
|
Formerly
| AT&T Advertising and Analytics (2018)
|
---|
Company type
| Subsidiary
|
---|
Industry
| |
---|
Predecessors
| - AT&T AdWorks
- Turner Advertising
|
---|
Founded
| September 25, 2018
; 5 years ago
(
2018-09-25
)
|
---|
Headquarters
| ,
U.S.
|
---|
Area served
| Worldwide
|
---|
Key people
| Mike Welch (
EVP
&
GM
)
Ben John (
CTO
)
[1]
|
---|
Products
| Community
Xandr Invest
Xandr Monetize
|
---|
Revenue
| $2,022 million (2019)
[2]
|
---|
Parent
| Microsoft
|
---|
Divisions
| |
---|
Subsidiaries
| |
---|
Website
| www
.xandr
.com
|
---|
Xandr, Inc.
(pronounced "Zander") is the
advertising
and
analytics
subsidiary of
Microsoft
, which operates an online platform,
Community
, for buying and selling consumer-centric digital advertising.
[3]
In December 2021,
AT&T
announced that they had agreed to sell Xandr (including
AppNexus
and Clypd) to Microsoft for an undisclosed price.
[4]
The acquisition was completed in June 2022.
History
[
edit
]
Following its June 2018 acquisition of AppNexus,
[5]
Xandr was formed by AT&T to construct a national
TV advertising
marketplace.
Xandr was launched on September 25, 2018, at its inaugural AT&T Relevance Conference, in Santa Barbara, California, and was named after its parent company founder,
Alexander Graham Bell
.
[6]
[7]
In June 2019, Xandr rebranded its AppNexus DSP, launching Xandr Invest, to serve as its central ad-buying hub.
[8]
[9]
On October 18, 2019, Xandr acquired Massachusetts-based Clypd, an audience-based sales platform for television advertising.
[10]
[11]
On April 30, 2020, it was folded into
WarnerMedia
.
[12]
Rumors and speculation spread in 2020 that AT&T was seeking to sell and offload Xandr, along with
DirecTV
and
Crunchyroll
. The reasoning is twofold: first, AT&T took on immense debt to purchase WarnerMedia, and any non-core asset sales would help pay off that debt burden. Secondly, Xandr was inherently compromised by its association with AT&T and
HBO Max
, as many would-be advertisers were reluctant to use what is essentially a competitor for their ad buys, and as such it might be more lucrative on its own.
[13]
On May 17, 2021, it was announced that WarnerMedia would be merged with
Discovery, Inc.
to form a new publicly traded company known as
Warner Bros. Discovery
, but that the Xandr business would not be included in the transaction and would remain a division of AT&T.
[14]
On December 21, 2021, AT&T announced that they had agreed to sell Xandr (including AppNexus and Clypd) to Microsoft for an undisclosed price, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews.
[4]
On June 6, 2022, Microsoft completed the acquisition of Xandr to bolster its advertising and retail media business, for about USD $1 billion.
[15]
Leadership
[
edit
]
Xandr is led by Mike Welch,
[1]
after the departure in March 2020 by former GroupM North America CEO
Brian Lesser
, who was appointed chief executive officer of AT&T advertising and analytics in 2017.
[16]
Kirk McDonald, who served as interim CEO following Lesser's departure,
[17]
moved to GroupM, a subsidiary of
WPP
, in August 2020.
[18]
Operations
[
edit
]
In May 2019, Xandr launched Community, its new video marketplace
[19]
that connects advertisers, publishers, and consumer media brands,
[20]
including Warner Bros. Discovery platforms:
CNN
,
TNT
,
TruTV
,
B/R Live
, and
Otter Media
. Other media on the Community platform includes
Vice Media
,
Hearst Communications
,
Newsy
,
Philo
,
Tubi
, and
Xumo
,
[21]
[22]
Vudu
, and
Bloomberg
.
[23]
The fee-transparent,
[24]
consumer-centric Xandr advertising model combines data, AT&T’s then newly acquired WarnerMedia content, AppNexus, and other proprietary advertising technology, to integrate with AT&T’s consumer network,
[6]
[7]
creating the first personalized advertising of its kind, with different commercials being delivered to different viewers simultaneously.
[25]
During its first year, Xandr’s revenue was mainly derived from DirecTV sales. The company has approximately 1800 employees,
[26]
including 60 in Europe.
[20]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Xandr Leadership Team"
.
xandr.com
.
Archived
from the original on May 20, 2019
. Retrieved
May 18,
2021
.
- ^
"2019 AT&T EARNINGS Xandr Segment"
(PDF)
. AT&T. p. 25.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on September 30, 2021
. Retrieved
October 27,
2021
.
- ^
Lafayette, Jon (February 11, 2019).
"AT&T Putting All Programmatic Digital Ad Spending with Xandr"
.
Broadcasting Cable
.
Archived
from the original on June 14, 2020
. Retrieved
May 21,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Foley, Mary Jo (December 21, 2021).
"Microsoft to buy Xandr ad marketplace from AT&T"
.
ZDNet
. Retrieved
December 21,
2021
.
- ^
Paoletta, Rae (November 29, 2018).
"AT&T's Xandr Officially Combines Its TV Ad Biz With The AppNexus Digital Ad Platform"
.
AdExchanger
.
Archived
from the original on September 24, 2021
. Retrieved
October 27,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
"AT&T Ad Unit Now Called ‘Xandr’ in Nod to Alexander Graham Bell" by Scott Moritz and Lucas Shaw;
Bloomberg
; September 25, 2018. Accessed May 21, 2019.
- ^
a
b
"AT&T Launches New Advertising Company, Xandr"
.
about.att.com
.
Archived
from the original on April 13, 2019
. Retrieved
May 21,
2019
.
- ^
Mariel Soto Reyes (June 12, 2019).
"The Relevance Conference Santa Barbara, a leadership series presented by Xandr, an AT&T unit"
. Business insider.
Archived
from the original on December 13, 2019
. Retrieved
December 13,
2019
.
- ^
Dang, Sheila (June 10, 2019).
"The AT&T's Xandr launches ad-buying platform for premium content"
. Reuters.
Archived
from the original on December 13, 2019
. Retrieved
December 13,
2019
.
- ^
"XANDR ACQUIRES CLYPD IN MOVE TO BUILD CONNECTED TV EMPIRE
Archived
October 21, 2019, at the
Wayback Machine
Ad Age
; October 18, 2019. Accessed October 21, 2019.]
- ^
Dang, Sheila (October 17, 2019).
"AT&T's Xandr purchases TV advertising company clypd: source"
. Reuters.
Archived
from the original on December 12, 2019
. Retrieved
December 13,
2019
.
- ^
"WarnerMedia and Xandr Combine To Create A Stronger Value Proposition For Agencies, Advertisers, and Publishers"
.
Xandr
. April 30, 2020.
Archived
from the original on May 1, 2020
. Retrieved
May 10,
2020
.
- ^
"AT&T Ups Effort to Sell DirecTV, Xandr and Crunchyroll ? Media Play News"
. September 2020.
Archived
from the original on March 2, 2021
. Retrieved
May 17,
2021
.
- ^
Rifilato, Tony (May 17, 2021).
"AT&T Will Hold On To Xandr As It Relinquishes WarnerMedia"
.
adexchanger.com
.
Archived
from the original on May 18, 2021
. Retrieved
May 18,
2021
.
- ^
Czarnecki, Sean (June 6, 2022).
"Microsoft just closed its acquisition of adtech firm Xandr. Here are 5 other companies it could buy to compete with Google and Meta"
.
Business Insider
. Retrieved
July 1,
2022
.
- ^
"GroupM North America CEO Brian Lesser to Depart for AT&T Role"
Archived
August 21, 2019, at the
Wayback Machine
by Alexandra Bruell;
The Wall Street Journal
; August 4, 2017. Accessed May 21, 2019.
- ^
"With CEO Brian Lesser gone, advertisers question AT&T's commitment to Xandr"
.
digiday.com
. March 16, 2020.
Archived
from the original on March 17, 2020
. Retrieved
March 16,
2020
.
- ^
Steinberg, Brian (August 18, 2020).
"Kirk McDonald Will Become North American CEO of GroupM"
.
variety.com
.
Archived
from the original on May 18, 2021
. Retrieved
May 18,
2021
.
- ^
"Xandr To Launch 'Community' Marketplace, Enhanced Addressable TV Offerings"
.
www.mediapost.com
.
Archived
from the original on July 31, 2019
. Retrieved
May 21,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Joseph, Seb (July 1, 2019).
"AT&T's Xandr has ambitious European expansion plans"
. DIGIDAY.
Archived
from the original on December 14, 2019
. Retrieved
December 13,
2019
.
- ^
"AT&T's Xandr Unveils Community, Its Long-Awaited Video Marketplace"
. May 14, 2019.
Archived
from the original on October 27, 2021
. Retrieved
October 27,
2021
.
- ^
"Xandr introduces ad marketplace, dubbed Community, during upfronts"
.
Ad Age
. May 14, 2019.
Archived
from the original on October 21, 2020
. Retrieved
May 21,
2019
.
- ^
Lafayette, Jon (September 23, 2019).
"One Year In, Xandr Still Pushing for Relevant Ads"
. Broadcasting & Cable.
Archived
from the original on December 13, 2019
. Retrieved
December 13,
2019
.
- ^
Sluis, Sarah (December 11, 2018).
"AppNexus Reworks Publisher Contracts To Enable Fee Transparency For Buyers"
.
AdExchanger
.
Archived
from the original on April 11, 2021
. Retrieved
October 27,
2021
.
- ^
"AT&T Pushes Xandr Ad Products in Viacom Carriage Talks" by Alexandra Bruell;
The Wall Street Journal
; March 25, 2019. Accessed May 21, 2019.
Archived
May 21, 2019, at the
Wayback Machine
On March 11, 2020 CEO Brian Lesser resigned. On April 30, 2020 AT&T announced that Warner Media and Xandr would be merged.
- ^
Steinberg, Brian (December 10, 2019).
"AT&T's Xandr Works for Closer Ties With WarnerMedia"
. Variety.
Archived
from the original on December 11, 2019
. Retrieved
December 13,
2019
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
People
| Founders
| |
---|
Board of directors
| |
---|
Senior leadership team
| |
---|
Corporate VPs
| |
---|
Employee groups
| |
---|
|
---|
Products
| |
---|
Company
| Conferences
| |
---|
Divisions
| |
---|
Estates
| |
---|
|
---|
Campaigns
| |
---|
Criticism
| |
---|
Litigation
| |
---|
Acquisitions
| |
---|
|