Molson Coors is reshaping its digital advertising strategy—and it’s doing it with Viant.
The beverage giant has named Viant Technology Inc. its official Advertising Platform in a multi-year partnership beginning in 2026, marking one of the most significant brand-side adtech alignments this year. For Viant, a longtime player in identity-driven programmatic and CTV innovation, the win reinforces its growing role as the behind-the-scenes engine powering major marketers’ data strategies.
At the heart of the partnership is Molson Coors’ ambition to seriously scale its first-party data across programmatic channels. Viant’s Household ID—its proprietary identity spine—will serve as the connective tissue across screens, formats, and buying environments. With the industry moving rapidly away from third-party cookies and fractured IDs, identity infrastructure is becoming the new competitive advantage, especially for consumer brands managing large, diverse audiences.
“Viant will provide Molson Coors with a future-proofed Household ID and identity spine that will power our marketing effectiveness in 2026 and beyond,” said Brad Feinberg, VP of Media, Digital, and eCommerce at Molson Coors. Viant’s transparency and innovation, he added, made the company the right DSP partner at a time when the brand is leaning heavily into measurable, data-driven marketing.
The New Metric: “Findability”
One of the standout components of the partnership is a new performance benchmark the two companies are coining together: Findability. Unlike traditional match rates—which increasingly fail to reflect real audience accessibility—Findability focuses on whether brands can responsibly reach the right legal-drinking-age audiences at scale, with precision and measurable value.
It’s part identity science, part brand safety philosophy, and part performance insurance policy. And for Molson Coors—stewards of some of the world’s most well-known beverage brands—this alignment of responsibility and targeting efficiency is more than semantics; it’s strategic.
“Molson Coors is setting the bar for data-driven marketing and performance,” said Tim Vanderhook, CEO and Co-Founder of Viant. Via shared data architectures and a common performance standard, Vanderhook says the companies will ensure messages reach the right audiences “transparently, responsibly, and at scale.”
Why This Matters for CTV and Identity
The Molson Coors–Viant partnership reflects several broader industry trends:
- CTV requires mature identity frameworks to deliver measurable outcomes
- First-party data is becoming marketers’ most valuable asset
- Advertisers are moving away from cookie-centric DSPs and toward durable identity systems
- Brand and regulatory pressures are pushing toward more responsible targeting
Viant’s Household ID and people-based infrastructure have become differentiators in a fragmented ecosystem, and Molson Coors’ selection reinforces that identity—not inventory—is becoming the defining factor for long-term DSP partnerships.
What Comes Next
Both companies say the partnership will expand into next-generation CTV innovation and advanced outcomes measurement. Expect deeper collaboration around addressable TV, cross-channel reach verification, and advanced attribution models built on Viant’s identity graph.
For Molson Coors, the move signals an aggressive push toward precision marketing. For Viant, it’s a marquee win that positions it as one of the most trusted platforms for brands prioritizing identity, transparency, and measurable growth.
If “Findability” becomes a widely adopted metric, this partnership may be remembered as more than a platform selection—it could mark a shift in how major brands define programmatic performance in an identity-first world.
