Wednesday, September 9th, 2026 – 9:00 am
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Telly, the startup that gives away free smart TVs in exchange for data and ad exposure, is making its home screen ads available for brands to buy programmatically – and pushing for industry standards to help attract more spend.
Telly’s smart TVs come with a smaller, skinnier second screen that sits below whatever viewers are watching on the main screen and runs a steady stream of news and ads, including programmatic home screen ads. The programmatic home screen ads live on that second screen. Telly uses Magnite’s SpringServe ad server to deliver the ads, with demand coming from The Trade Desk, Teads and others.
But, for home screen ads to stick, they need scale, which is where programmatic enablement comes in, Mike Shehan, Telly’s CRO, told AdExchanger. Shehan is the former CEO of SpotX, the video supply-side platform Magnite acquired in 2021.
