• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, April 9, 2015

Clarifications: In the below article, Jack Daniels is listed as a brand using the new platform. To clarify, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey is the specific advertiser, not all of Jack Daniels. The other brands mentioned -- Coors Light and Universal -- are also “past or current advertisers,” and are not necessarily using the new offering.

Additionally, WPP’s Kinetic is one of many agencies TouchTunes works with, and the company says “the majority of our inventory demand does not come solely from Kinetic,” as the article implies.

Marketers from all corners of the ad industry are turning to programmatic ad technologies, and as we move closer toward the Internet of Things, the digital-out-of-home (DOOH) industry is getting a programmatic makeover.

TouchTunes, operators of a network of interactive entertainment kiosks, is planning to next week announce the launch of Attract Media, a DOOH ad platform that will feature programmatic buying options, Real-Time Daily has learned.

TouchTunes is working with Vistar to facilitate programmatic buying on jukeboxes, and the automated buying technology is expected to come to out-of-home TV screens as well.

“With the launch of Attract Media, our capabilities are expanding from mobile and digital jukebox to also include TV and beacon technology,” said Jim Wilson, COO of TouchTunes and head of the Attract Media platform.

A company representative told Real-Time Daily that TouchTunes is also looking to strike additional tech partnerships with programmatic expansion in mind. TouchTunes’ new platform also allows marketers to send ads to consumers’ mobile devices based on their proximity to certain events or screens.

TouchTunes says the platform is able to reach consumers at 60,000 “social venues,” which are classified as “a variety of genres such as sports bars, taverns, lounges, casual dining restaurants, and family entertainment centers,” per Wilson. These venues are a hotbed for Millennials, so TouchTunes pitches the Attract Media platform as one that provides marketers with a unique opportunity to reach Millennials in the open world.

TouchTunes owns the ad inventory available across the network, and says it will sell to brands both directly and programmatically. TouchTunes has also partnered -- or expanded existing partnerships -- with certain third-party publishers, including Thrillist Media Group, Foursquare and The Chive to include their content on TouchTunes’ network.

When it comes to targeting, Wilson asserted that the company has made “a significant investment in data to better understand our audience.” Wilson said the company has found demographic, location, dwell time and purchase behavior to be among the most valuable data collected at its locations. He said TouchTunes then cross-references that data with third-party data from Datalogix and Nielsen to build out audience profiles.

The bulk of demand for TouchTunes’ DOOH inventory comes from WPP’s Kinetic. Kinetic ad-buyers will have access to Attract Media’s inventory on a direct basis and via programmatic through its exchange, per a release.

TouchTunes says it partnered with Universal Pictures to promote “Fifty Shades of Grey” through the platform, and other brands such as Coors Light and Jack Daniels are also using the new technology.

The announcement comes one month after Ayuda Media Systems launched four private marketplaces for DOOH media sellers.