Viant and Ad Fontes Media Bring Political Bias-Based Targeting to CTV News for the First Time

Key Terms

connected tv technical

A connected TV is a television that can access the internet and run online apps, streaming services, and digital content directly on the screen, much like a giant tablet or computer. For investors, it matters because it represents a shift in how people consume media, opening new opportunities for advertising, content creation, and revenue growth in the entertainment industry.

programmatic advertising technical

Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of digital ad space using software and data to match ads to specific audiences in real time, like an electronic auction where advertisers bid for attention and publishers sell ad slots. It matters to investors because it shapes how efficiently a company can turn user attention into predictable revenue, affects margins and growth potential, and brings data-privacy and platform-quality risks that can influence future earnings.

dsp financial

A demand-side platform (DSP) is software that automates buying digital advertising space across websites, apps and video, letting marketers bid for and place ads in real time. Think of it as a smart shopper that compares many stores at once to find the best price and audience for each ad. Investors watch DSPs because their reach, pricing efficiency, data access and compliance with privacy rules directly affect revenue growth, margins and competitive position in ad-driven businesses.

cost per acquisition financial

The cost per acquisition (CPA) is the average amount a company spends to gain one paying customer, completed sale, or other desired action from marketing and sales efforts. Investors watch CPA because it shows how efficiently a business turns marketing dollars into real revenue — like measuring how much you pay to buy a ticket that guarantees entry to an event; if the ticket cost repeatedly exceeds the value you get, the operation isn’t sustainable.

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Viant's first-to-market offering gives advertisers a smarter path into premium CTV news

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Viant Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: DSP) a leader in CTV and AI-powered programmatic advertising, today announced a new partnership with Ad Fontes Media, the news ratings data and technology company, becoming the first and only DSP to enable news reliability-based targeting within news inventory on Connected TV via the industry’s leading content ID, the IRIS_ID. For advertisers navigating an increasingly complex news environment, it represents a fundamentally new path into the category, one that pairs premium inventory access with the content-level intelligence needed to activate on it with confidence and precision. Ad Fontes Media has built its reputation helping major brands navigate news content with confidence, and now with the IRIS_ID and Viant, they can expand their offerings to include CTV.

"We use Ad Fontes Media to ensure our advertising reaches all audiences across the political spectrum because we make cars for everyone," said Shenan Reed, Global Chief Media Officer at General Motors. "Ad Fontes Media also helps ensure that those ads show up in reliable publications."

News audiences are among the most attentive and engaged in advertising, yet the category remains one of the most avoided. Brands pulling back are leaving measurable performance on the table: ads in news environments receive 20% more attention and drive 77% higher brand recall, according to a recent study from Teads and Lumen Research. With 2026 on track to be the most expensive midterm cycle in U.S. history, the news environment has never been more crowded, more contested, or more consequential for brands trying to navigate it. Until now, the tools to navigate it with confidence and precision simply haven't existed.

This partnership closes that gap. By integrating Ad Fontes Media's Reliability and Bias framework directly into the Viant advertising platform, advertisers can now identify and activate against trusted news programming at the content level, connecting that investment directly to real household-level outcomes. Brands leveraging Ad Fontes' high-quality inventory, which excludes low-quality news through AI-powered segments, typically achieve approximately 60% lower Cost Per Acquisition and 50%+ higher conversion rates within contextually aligned environments.

"Advertisers don't need to avoid news, but they do need better tools to navigate it," said Vanessa Otero, Founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media. "This partnership with Viant gives advertisers a consistent, data-driven way to evaluate content quality. And because our analysis can extend beyond the domain or app level to content as it goes live, advertisers gain a more granular way to target trusted news environments."

The partnership directly addresses a persistent problem in programmatic advertising. Brands have long been forced to navigate a market cluttered with made-for-advertising sites, downstream resold inventory, and low-quality content mislabeled as news, leading many to pull back from the category entirely and leaving high-quality, trusted news environments underutilized and underpriced.

"Through Viant's partnership with Ad Fontes, advertisers can reach the most relevant audiences while ensuring their ads appear in trusted, high-quality news environments. This puts premium supply back to work at scale. For brands that have been sitting on the sidelines of news, the calculus has changed," said Richie Hyden, SVP of Publisher Solutions at Viant.

The integration is now available within the Viant ad platform, with activation spanning live news programming across leading CTV publishers.

ABOUT VIANT

Viant Technology (NASDAQ: DSP) is an exclusively buy-side, AI-powered advertising platform purpose-built for CTV. Viant uniquely combines proprietary content intelligence, household-level identity resolution, and person-level attention signals to connect advertisers with real customers and drive measurable outcomes across the open internet. Through its award-winning AI solutions, Viant is building the future of autonomous advertising, where AI doesn’t just assist the campaign, it delivers real results. Learn more at viantinc.com.

About Ad Fontes Media

Ad Fontes Media is a news ratings data and technology company that rates media sources in terms of political bias and reliability through a blend of human analysts and AI. The company was founded by Vanessa Otero with the mission of rating all the news to positively impact the media ecosystem. Ad Fontes Media’s Data Platform and APIs allow Ad Fontes Media’s brand, media, and media technology partners to leverage its comprehensive news source ratings so they can engage with them in real time in media planning and activation.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260520884521/en/

Media Contact:
Marielle Lyon
press@viantinc.com

Source: Viant Technology Inc.