Shahid Butt, SVP – MENA and Türkiye, at INVIDI Technologies

INVIDI Technologies has collaborated with Google to enable addressable advertising on unconnected set-top boxes (STBs), marking what the companies describe as the first solution of its kind to bring Programmatic Guaranteed advertising to traditional broadcast environments without internet connectivity.

First unveiled at the Google Partner Innovation Summit during IBC 2025, the collaboration combines INVIDI’s addressable advertising technology with Google Ad Manager (GAM), enabling broadcasters to deliver targeted, measurable advertising to households that have historically been difficult to reach through digital campaigns. The integration also allows advertisers and agencies using Google’s programmatic ecosystem, including Display & Video 360 (DV360), to access addressable television inventory and extend campaigns beyond traditional environments.

India will be the first market to see a large-scale deployment of the solution called INVIDI Bridge, with a phased global rollout to follow. With its extensive installed base of unconnected set-top boxes, India provides a significant opportunity for broadcasters to unlock new advertising revenue streams while enabling brands to reach audiences previously outside the programmatic ecosystem.

Making addressable advertising scalable

Speaking about the collaboration, Shahid Butt, SVP – MENA and Türkiye, at INVIDI, commented: “Our collaboration with Google is game changing. Our advertising partners in MENA, India and across the globe can now tap into an estimated 400m unconnected set-top boxes, enabling the delivery of Programmatic Guaranteed advertising to these households. Broadcasters who understand the immense value of addressability can now finally reach viewers regardless of connectivity limitations.”

The new capability empowers agencies to create new monetization opportunities for broadcasters while extending advertisers’ reach. Following its initial rollout in India, the technology is expected to benefit broadcasters and pay TV operators worldwide, including in the Middle East and North Africa, where satellite television continues to command substantial audiences.

Separately, INVIDI has launched INVIDI Fuse, a solution that helps reduce the cost of delivering addressable advertising on internet-delivered live TV. Traditional server-side ad insertion can drive variable cloud and CDN costs higher as audiences grow – especially during premium live events such as global sports tournaments.

Available in MENA and globally, INVIDI Fuse changes the model, noted Butt. “Using client-side manifest manipulation, INVIDI Fuse enables real-time ad insertion directly in DASH and HLS manifests – helping content owners reduce high variable server delivery costs while preserving a seamless playback experience. This results in lower integration and delivery costs, boosting profits significantly for content owners.”

Google and INVIDI timeline

The collaboration builds on a relationship spanning more than a decade. Google was a strategic investor in INVIDI in 2010, leading a $23m funding round that supported the company’s early development of addressable advertising technologies for satellite and cable television. Although Google later exited as an investor, the relationship has evolved into a technology collaboration aimed at extending programmatic advertising into traditional television environments.

In 2017, INVIDI was acquired by a consortium comprising AT&T, DISH and WPP, while continuing to operate as an independent company focused on addressable advertising innovation. The acquisition accelerated the company’s expansion across multiple video delivery platforms, with DirecTV, one of INVIDI’s original investors, assuming a majority stake in December 2024.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, INVIDI has established itself as a leader in addressable television advertising. The company serves more than 70m households globally, delivers approximately over $2bn in addressable advertising annually, holds more than 150 patents and has received two Emmy Awards for its contributions to addressable advertising technology. Its platform supports satellite, cable, IPTV, OTT, connected TV, terrestrial broadcast and Android TV environments, enabling targeted advertising at the headend, household, and individual viewer level.