Viant Extends Direct CTV Buying to Private and Guaranteed Deals

Viant says connected-TV advertisers and agencies can now route private-marketplace and programmatic-guaranteed deals through Direct Access, a buying path previously used for open-market transactions. The September 24 announcement gives buyers of negotiated CTV inventory another transaction route. Viant says neither the buyer nor the seller pays a Direct Access fee to set up or execute a deal.

For agencies comparing ways to buy a publisher’s inventory, that fee term is the immediate distinction. It applies to setting up and executing a deal through Direct Access; it does not mean the advertising inventory or an entire campaign is free.

Where the new deal support applies

Viant says the private-marketplace and programmatic-guaranteed support was live at the announcement across FreeWheel, Magnite’s SpringServe, Publica and custom oRTB integrations. Those are the routes the company named, rather than a commitment that every publisher’s inventory or proposed deal is available through Direct Access.

The buying path itself predates this expansion. In a June 11 Publisher Solutions update, Viant described Direct Access for open-market CTV buying and said 85% of CTV spend on its own platform then transacted through it. That company-reported figure describes Viant’s existing buying path in June, not adoption of the newly supported deal formats.

The change lets buyers evaluate Direct Access for negotiated deals as well as open-market purchases. Its value in a particular buy will depend on the inventory and transaction terms available through the supported route, with Viant’s stated no-deal-fee term giving both buyers and publishers a specific cost to compare.