Samba TV, a provider of TV technology for audience data and omniscient measurement, has acquired Semasio, a global leader in contextual targeting and audience data.

The acquisition is a strategic move to strengthen Samba TV's position in AI-driven, privacy-first advertising across digital and connected TV platforms. The integration of Samba TV's video and identity data with Semasio's semantic web analysis is expected to deliver solutions for omniscient targeting and campaign optimisation.

“Our vision is that AI-generated data and insights will create high-performance, privacy-first advertising solutions, so we are doubling down on that with this acquisition,” said Ashwin Navin, Samba TV Co-founder and CEO.

The acquisition is set to accelerate Samba TV's mission to lead in privacy-compliant advertising as the industry shifts away from third-party cookies. It will also expand Samba TV's global footprint and capabilities for advertisers to define and reach granular audience segments through a unified approach that combines contextual, behavioural, and demographic data.

Financial terms were not dislosed.

“Joining forces with Samba TV empowers us to fully realise Semasio’s vision by expanding investment into our next-generation platform, which seamlessly integrates audience-based and contextual targeting with greater reach across more channels. I’m excited to see how Samba TV’s expertise and resources will propel Semasio to new heights,” said Jeff Ragovin, Semasio CEO.

Semasio maintains over 1 billion stable user profiles globally and analyses over 2.5 billion web pages each month. The company's CEO, Jeff Ragovin, will transition leadership of the company to General Manager Zac Pinkham.

“We’re excited to join forces with Samba TV globally to bring our capabilities to a broader audience,” said Zac Pinkham, Semasio General Manager.

The acquisition has also been welcomed by industry partners. “We are enthused to see Semasio's semantic analysis of the open web come together with Samba AI for streaming video,” said Adam Wise, National Media Chief Innovation Officer. Martin Wexler, Acxiom SVP of Channel Partnerships, added, “As a long-standing partner of Semasio, we’re excited by the news that Semasio’s semantic targeting capabilities will be combined with Samba TV's comprehensive global first-party data and advanced AI solutions.”