AT&T (T  ) is set to purchase digital ad firm AppNexus for approximately $1.6 billion.The specific value of the deal was not reported and the transaction is expected to close sometime during the third quarter of 2018.

AppNexus is a technology company that has a cloud-based software platform which enables and optimizes programmed online advertising. AppNexus was valued at $1.8 billion in a 2015 funding round. AppNexus will become part of AT&T's advertising and analytics department as the company aims to expand its global footprint in online advertising. AT&T CEO Brian Lesser stated, "Ad tech unites real-time analytics and technology with our premium TV and video content. So, we went out and found the strongest player in the space...The combination of AT&T advertising & analytics and AppNexus will help deliver a world-class advertising platform that provides brands and publishers a new and innovative way to reach consumers in the marketplace today."

AT&T currently has over 170 million direct-to-consumer relationships across its various media businesses. AppNexus will help expand these relationships to the Asian-Pacific region, Australia, Europe, and Latin America, and will also help strengthen AT&T's ad-supported video content portfolio. AppNexus' technology can also help AT&T capitalize on the media content that it just added through its quite recent purchase of Time Warner Inc. In fact, when AT&T bought Time Warner, it restructured the combined company into four units, including an ad and analytics business that Lesser, who was on the board of AppNexus, helped spearhead.

Lesser also commented that AT&T's ambition is not only to boost ad revenue from its own content but also to create a platform that connects advertisers with audiences from rival media outlets. AT&T wants to offer advertisers data to measure the "real performance" on their ad campaigns, such as whether someone who saw a car ad on their connected TV walked into a car dealership.

With this purchase, AT&T can also give technology giants such as Facebook (FB  ) and Google (GOOGL  ) a run for their money. Last year, Google and Facebook accounted for a combined 58.5% of the digital ad dollars spent in the US. Marketers who are very eager to have more options in the online ad sector besides Google and Facebook also welcomed AT&T's acquisition. Many executives in the industry speculate that AT&T could also look for further ad tech acquisitions in the coming months to further strengthen its offering to marketers.