By Chris Wack

VIZIO Holding Corp. shares were up 7% to $28.74 in early trade after the company said it was in a strategic partnership with Verizon Media to deliver new cross-platform and connected TV advertising solutions, anchored in unique TV viewership data and premium programmatic inventory access.

Effective immediately, Verizon Media gains demand-side platform access to VIZIO's Inscape viewership data from more than 18 million opted-in VIZIO Smart TVs.

VIZIO said Verizon Media will be the exclusive DSP to access this data beginning in 2022. The alliance will enable expanded CTV targeting, optimization and measurement opportunities for Verizon Media's DSP advertisers, independent of cookies. While VIZIO remains the exclusive seller of its guaranteed inventory and data licensing, the agreement now also makes Verizon Media its preferred supply-side platform for programmatic ad monetization.

VIZIO said the deal also strengthens its cross platform ad retargeting product, Household Connect. Through Verizon Media's unified ad platform, VIZIO can now offer audience extension campaigns to its advertisers that are fueled by Verizon Media's unique omnichannel marketplace and diverse cross-device Identity Graph, matched with near real-time Inscape ACR data.

Verizon Media is a unit of Verizon Communications Inc.

Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-29-21 1014ET