iSpot, LG Ads Solutions smart TV data deal
December 15, 2021
Real-time cross-platform TV ad measurement specialist iSpot has agreed a four and a half year licensing deal for all smart TV data from LG Ads Solutions, the advertising and data platform from LG Electronics. The deal gives iSpot access to LG on-the-glass programme and ad data from more than 20 million opted-in smart TVs from a broad range of TV makers in addition to LG. The new data will be added to iSpot’s existing footprint of 19 million smart TVs for providing cross-platform ad verification and impact measurement.
iSpot, which has an agreement with VIZIO’s Inscape through the end of 2025, is now able to utilise an opt-in panel of just under 40 million connected TVs. This represents the largest and most secure footprint of licensed smart TV data in the TV measurement industry. For iSpot, the deal bolsters its industry-leading solutions for ad verification, competitive intelligence, cross-screen measurement, attribution and brand impact solutions. With data from 12 million set-top boxes under license, iSpot’s total TV data measurement footprint to over 50 million.
For LG Ads Solutions, the agreement is part of a strategy to provide its massive and highly valuable TV data set to select industry partners to improve the overall TV media and measurement ecosystem, while maintaining exclusivity for native ad activation across LG smart TVs.
Data from LG Ads Solutions’ 20 million smart TV population bolsters representativeness across viewing types, geography, demographics, ethnicity and household makeup. The scale and quality of smart TV data is an important part of iSpot’s differentiated approach to TV measurement, which verifies the delivery and watch time for ads independently from programming, and is able to uniformly measure across all viewing types, including set-top box, satellite, streaming devices, embedded apps and over-the-air (OTA).
“We continue to invest heavily in our data and measurement infrastructure for the benefit of our clients,” stated Sean Muller, founder and CEO at iSpot. “We believe that smart TVs represent the present and future of measurement, and our unique ability to verify ad play on the TV screen enables a TV ecosystem that’s increasingly becoming addressable and cross-screen.”
“This is a critical time for the development and adoption of new currencies in TV,” suggested LG Ads CEO, Raghu Kodige. “The team here at LG Ads Solutions believes we have an obligation to help support better, more accurate measurement of activity for all forms of TV. That’s why we are pleased to put our opt-in data in the hands of a measurement pioneer like iSpot that has established deep trust and daily usage with brands and networks. Together we can ensure TV and streaming get the credit they deserve for driving awareness and business outcomes.”
The addition of data from LG Ads Solutions comes on the heels of iSpot’s data-licensing agreement with Blockgraph to utilise set-top box data from Comcast and Charter Communications, and is a supplement to a big data audience panel that includes data from TiVo, TVision, complete historic location data from PlaceIQ, as well as partnerships with Experian, Epsilon, Oracle, Neustar and more. All of the data is made unique by iSpot’s proprietary, robust, real-time TV ad catalogue generated by a suite of patented technologies.
“As ads are becoming more decoupled from the programs, and as viewing becomes more fragmented across streaming environments, a big data approach becomes more critical,” said Muller. “The LG Ads Solutions footprint represents a significant scaling of our infrastructure in providing high-quality programme and ad verification against the iSpot ad catalogue. This will continue to bolster our ad verification, and impact our products that have become highly trusted in the industry.”
Since becoming the first company to commercialise ACR data for the purposes of advertising and programme measurement in 2015 using Inscape data, iSpot has built the largest brand-direct business in TV measurement, with more than 50 per cent of America’s top TV advertisers utilising iSpot for its unique ability to connect verified TV ad exposures to business outcomes and brand impact.