Connected TV ad platform tvScientific raises $20M

Advertising on connected TV should be as easy as running campaigns on Facebook and Google, tvScientific CEO Jason Fairchild tells Axios.

Why it matters: CTV is a fast-growing category for digital ad spending. It reached $14.4 billion last year, up 59.9% from the year prior, and will increase to $29.5 billion in 2024, eMarketer estimated.

• "What we're trying to do is go after the top 10% or 20% of the $150 billion pool of demand that spends on Google and Facebook, and move them over to connected TV," Fairchild says.

Driving the news: tvScientific, a performance platform for CTV ads, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners and joined by NBCUniversal and Hearst Ventures. 

• The company was formed last summer and has raised $23 million in total. It previously secured a $3 million seed round from IdealabX, AperiamVentures and angel investors.
• The founding team is comprised of experienced digital media and ad executives: Fairchild co-founded OpenX; CPO David Koye was CDO of SummitMedia; board member Kent Wakeford was COO of Kabam and co-founded Integral Ad Science; Bill Gross founded Idealab and GoTo.com.
• "In many ways, this is a continuation of a story that started in 1998. I was in the early days of the first paid search company called GoTo.com," Fairchild says. "What we did there is create universal access to paid search and then also made it really easy to measure. We're doing exactly the same thing for connected TV."

How it works: The platform offers ad buying, measurement and optimization for CTV ads and supports 95% of AVOD streaming apps.

• Fairchild says tvScientific has three main types of clients: direct-to-consumer advertisers; app-install marketers; regional advertisers (car dealerships, higher education, etc.).

What's next: Fairchild says the goal is to make the platform a "set it and forget it" ad tool akin to Facebook's within a year.