Unruly

Unruly established itself as an innovator in emotional intelligence-driven video advertising but has been consolidated into the broader Nexxen platform. The company differentiated itself through its focus on emotional engagement metrics rather than traditional demographic targeting, working with premium publishers and major brands. As part of Nexxen, it now competes in the increasingly consolidated programmatic video and CTV advertising market.

Unruly is a video advertising technology platform that pioneered the use of emotional data and social science to optimize video ad campaigns. Founded in 2006, the company developed proprietary technology to measure emotional responses to video content and use those insights to target audiences more effectively. Unruly's platform enables brands and publishers to distribute video advertising across premium publisher sites, leveraging emotional engagement metrics to maximize campaign performance and shareability. The company built its reputation on combining neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and machine learning to predict which videos would resonate emotionally with audiences. Unruly's technology platform facilitated programmatic video advertising at scale, working with major global brands and premium publishers to deliver emotionally-targeted campaigns. In 2015, Unruly was acquired by News Corp for approximately £58 million ($90 million), becoming part of the media conglomerate's digital advertising portfolio. The acquisition was intended to enhance News Corp's video advertising capabilities across its publisher network. In 2020, News Corp sold Unruly to Tremor International (now Nexxen) as part of a strategic divestiture. Under Tremor/Nexxen ownership, Unruly operates as part of a larger ad tech ecosystem focused on connected TV and video advertising solutions. The platform continues to serve advertisers and publishers, though it has been integrated into Nexxen's broader demand-side and supply-side platform offerings.