Magnite, the sell-side advertising platform formed out of a merger between Rubicon Project and Telaria, has agreed to acquire video advertising company SpotX from RTL Group for $1.17bn in cash and stock.

The combination of Magnite and SpotX will look to provide better support for sellers, create an alternative to the connected TV (CTV) advertising market’s largest players, and improve scale and efficiency for buyers.

“Sellers have been looking for a scaled independent alternative to the giant companies who dominate the CTV marketplace,” said Michael Barrett, President & CEO of Magnite. “The combination of Magnite and SpotX will make this a reality by bringing together the best CTV technologies and teams at a critical time. Ad-supported CTV is just beginning to draw budgets from linear TV and we will be well-positioned to participate in the strongest segment of industry growth for the foreseeable future.”

Magnite and SpotX will together serve brands including A+E Networks, Crackle Plus, The CW Network, Discovery, Disney/Hulu, Electronic Arts, Fox Corporation, fuboTV, Microsoft, Newsy, Philo TV, Pluto TV, Roku, Samsung, Sling TV, Tubi, ViacomCBS, Vizio, Vudu, WarnerMedia, and Xumo.

Magnite will finance the transaction with cash on hand, 14m shares issued to RTL Group, and committed financing from Goldman Sachs. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

“As CTV flourishes and the media industry continues to turn to programmatic, there is a huge opportunity for an independent scaled company to offer the single most comprehensive technology in the market,” said Mike Shehan, Co-Founder and CEO at SpotX. “We built SpotX with the mission of becoming the leading global video advertising platform, and our goal is now coming to fruition with Magnite. I am thrilled about what we will achieve together.”