• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, July 14, 2015

Tribune Content Agency, a publishing agency that’s part of the Tribune Publishing family, on Tuesday announced the launch of the TCA Video Network, a video content and advertising network that will be open to both Tribune-owned publishers as well as outside organizations.

TCA is positioning the network as a “data-driven” video network, and that’s because it will be powered by Beachfront Media, a video ad tech firm.

Publishers tapped into the network will be able to populate video players with TCA-licensed video content. Per a release, TCA will feed the network with content from large media brands including The Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg, Scripps Broadcasting and more. Tribune Publishing brands such as the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune will also contribute content, per a release.

Beachfront will also provided licensed content, namely content that comes from its “Builder” platform, which is used heavily by YouTube “stars.” This will provide publishers plugged into the network with millennial-focused content, Beachfront notes.

In short, Beachfront will host the video content -- whether it be licensed by TCA or Beachfront, or owned outright by the publishers -- and the publishers can then pull the content from Beachfront’s platform and display it on their site or app.

The main draw of the new network is that is will span across screens to include both desktop and mobile, including smartphones and tablets. In a prepared statement, TCA President Jocelyn Winnecke notes that the network “provides a premium user experience across all screens, especially mobile, and allows media companies to expand their reach and publishers to grow their audiences.”

“They wanted to address cross-screen,” said Frank Sinton, CEO and founder of Beachfront Media. “For a content company, that’s hugely important.”

TCA will also be using Beachfront’s technology to serve ads. The network will make use of Beachfront’s video ad server for both direct-sold and programmatically-sold ads, and Beachfront’s “IO” platform will be used to backfill inventory via real-time bidding (RTB) marketplaces.

Sinton explained that at launch, the new network will not personalize content, but it will personalize ads. In other words, the video content will be the same for all consumers on a particular publisher, but the advertisements that come before the video can differ from person to person.

The exact size and scope of the TCA Video Network -- as well as launch partners -- was not revealed, though TCA did claim that it will provide over 1,000 new video per day from over 150 video content sources.