CBC, Rogers, Shaw form web advertising pact

Three of Canada's largest broadcasters are joining forces in a new venture online aimed at streamlining the way they sell advertising on their respective websites.

Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation unveiled something called the Canadian Premium Audience Exchange on Monday.

It's a computerized system that will allow advertisers to bid on targeted advertising space on the three companies' websites by mining specific information about their viewers. It's being billed as a way of linking viewers in a specific demographic group with an advertiser that wants to target that group specifically. And viewers, for their part, will get ads more likely to interest them.

"Inventory will be pooled amongst the three companies’ digital assets enabling bids to be made against channels, providing efficiency for advertising agencies not yet seen in the Canadian market," the three companies said in a release.

Advertisers will be able to place ads on more than 100 websites reaching 15 million Canadians a day and bid on the placement in a real-time auction process.

"CPAX provides a brand safe environment that offers advertisers accurate targeting, transparency, cost efficiency, and massive reach," Rogers Media's chief digital officer Jason Tafler said.