Xandr will encompass all aspects of AT&T advertising and analytics business and AppNexus. It claimed the new business would have four key advantages –data, premium content, advanced advertising technology and AT&T’s distribution base of more than 170 million direct-to-consumer relationships across wireless, video and broadband.

Lesser (pictured) said: “Our purpose is to make advertising matter and to connect people with the brands and content they care about. Throughout AT&T’s 142-year history, it has innovated with data and technology, making its customers’ lives better. Xandr will bring that spirit of innovation to the advertising industry.”

In addition, Xandr has made agreements with Altice USA and Frontier Communications to aggregate and sell their national addressable TV advertising inventory. It said this would start to create a one-stop shop for advertisers by aggregating video inventory from multiple multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs).

Xandr has also carried out research with Insight Strategy Group and Advertiser Perceptions to understand consumer sentiment of the advertising experience.

These findings formed the basis of its Xandr Relevancy Report which found that 66% of respondents wish ads were more relevant to their interests and lifestyle and 57% said ads are not relevant to them.

However, consumers recognised the importance of advertising: 64% of those surveyed believe advertising enables independent voices to be heard on the internet, while 70% like it when ads go beyond just selling a product.