Q&A: Viant CMO Jon Schulz Discusses Their New Strategic Partnership With LG Ad Solutions
Viant Technology Inc., a leader in CTV and AI-powered programmatic advertising, recently announced a strategic partnership with LG Ad Solutions to speed up addressable advertising in the connected TV (CTV) ecosystem.
With this integration, the Viant DSP can now completely serve LG's inventory of high-end smart TVs, which includes 45 million linked devices nationwide. With the support of Viant's industry-leading identity infrastructure, LG Ad Solutions and Viant will work together to enhance signal quality, data matching, and performance, giving advertisers easy access to high-performing campaigns on the most-watched screens in the house. This will enable advertisers to interact with streaming audiences more precisely, extensively, and transparently.
In this Q&A, Jon Schulz, Viant’s Chief Marketing Officer, delves further into the details of this partnership and its distinctive features that will benefit advertisers.
Viant CMO Jon Schulz
What are some ways that Viant’s Direct Access program helps to uniquely enhance this new integration with LG Ad Solutions?
Viant’s Direct Access program has transformed the way advertisers engage with CTV by eliminating the inefficiencies of legacy intermediaries. Through our integration with LG Ad Solutions, advertisers gain “glass-level” access to 45 million LG smart TVs, enabling more transparent and efficient transactions. This direct integration allows us to activate campaigns with higher-quality signal, lower latency and greater precision—all powered by our identity-first infrastructure and Household ID™. It’s about reaching real households in real time, without the noise of third-party data or unnecessary tech layers.
What are some specific attributes of Viant’s identity solutions that help to improve large-scale addressable reach?
Our proprietary Household ID™ is the backbone of our identity-first DSP. It enables deterministic targeting at the household level across 95% of U.S. adults 18+. In the context of our LG integration, this translates to authenticated, OEM-level access and better frequency control across premium CTV inventory. By combining identity resolution with first-party signals from LG smart TVs, we ensure marketers can deliver personalized advertising with high match rates and measurable outcomes.
How does Viant’s AI assist with optimizing programmatic advertising in new ways that increase engagement and conversions?
ViantAI is our proprietary AI engine embedded across the DSP. It powers robust media planning, real-time bid optimization, as well as measurement and analysis all from a simple chat interface. Outcomes-drive media plans can be activated in the DSP with the push of a button. This superpowers programmatic traders, automating repetitive tasks while creating more impactful plans geared to deliver on specific advertiser goals.
Why did LG Ad Solutions decide to integrate with Viant, as opposed to other programmatic platforms? What does Viant offer that makes it stand out?
LG Ad Solutions recognized that Viant offers a rare combination of precision, transparency and scale. Our DSP is built on a foundation of people-based identity, contextual intelligence via IRIS.TV, and direct integrations with premium inventory—delivering clean signal and measurable performance. Few platforms offer this level of end-to-end control and OEM-level access. LG Ad Solutions saw in Viant a partner that could help standardize addressability across CTV while preserving privacy and enhancing advertiser ROI.
In what ways does this integration help to boost campaign performance and ROI?
By linking identity and inventory at the point of activation, this partnership eliminates waste and enables smarter frequency management, better attribution and more relevant ad placements. Campaigns are delivered directly into LG’s glass-level environment, with optimized contextual targeting via IRIS.TV and real-time signal matching from our DSP. Advertisers are already reporting improved engagement and conversions across key verticals like retail, CPG and QSR—demonstrating that this integration directly drives business results.
Please discuss some key advantages of content-level contextual targeting on LG Ads due to Viant’s acquisition of IRIS.TV. What are some aspects of their video-level data that are especially unique?
IRIS.TV provides standardized video-level data—something few platforms can deliver at scale. With IRIS_ID embedded across LG Ads inventory, we enable real-time content categorization across emotional tone, genre, safety and suitability. This allows advertisers to match messaging to the exact content a viewer is watching, rather than relying on app-level or genre proxies. Additionally, our IRIS-enabled™ Content Report and Pre-Bid Targeting tools allow buyers to identify high-performing segments mid-flight and reallocate spend dynamically, driving significant lifts in performance and brand perception.
What makes direct-to-glass access to LG smart TVs advantageous over other smart TV brands?
Direct-to-glass means direct access to the TV’s operating system—bypassing layers of intermediaries that can dilute signal, delay performance, or compromise match quality. LG Ad Solutions offers this direct connection, allowing Viant to activate campaigns with more accurate targeting, higher transparency, and better attribution. Not all OEMs provide this level of access. For advertisers, it means stronger data fidelity, real-time responsiveness, and cleaner paths to audience and outcome—on one of the most-watched screens in the home.
Related Articles
The real causes of CTV stagnation and decline today are related to low signal fidelity, walled garden dominance, and a shortage of innovation. Businesses across the CTV landscape can find relief, if they know how to adapt and restore value and advertiser confidence.
16 Jul 2025
Going into 2025, advertiser conversations around addressable TV are different than they have been in past years. Considered an "add-on" by many just a few years ago, addressable TV is now considered a "must-buy" among the majority of advertisers today. Sona Pehlivanian of New York Interconnect writes that this shift represents a new level of maturity in how the advertising industry views addressable and how it is an important milestone in bringing TV advertising in line with shifts in consumer viewing behaviors.
27 Mar 2025
FAST and AVOD are struggling to fill inventory and CPMs are sagging in much of the CTV world. Is programmatic the problem or the solution? Is brand or direct advertising better equipped to turn the tide? Would a hybrid strategy work better? Fremantle's Laura Florence, Roku's Charlie Goodman, Philo's Aulden Kaye Yi, and Vevo's Melissa Sofo debate the best solutions to free streaming's fill and pricing problems in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2025.
14 Mar 2025
In this clip from their spirited debate moderated by TVREV's Alan Wolk at Streaming Media Connect 2025, Philo's Aulden Kaye Yi makes the case for monetizing CTV content through programmatic advertising and launching effective advertising campaigns through programmatic platforms, and goes point-counterpoint with Vevo's Melissa Sofo and Fremantle's Laura Florence over brand safety concerns, content-matching, and more.
07 Mar 2025
An old media company is learning new tricks as Time overhauls its editorial and advertising operations through the use of granular data on video viewing.
23 Jan 2017