NBCU names 1st One Platform partner
January 13, 2022
NBCUniversal has agreed what it describes a “multi-year landmark deal” with iSpot.tv that will make the real-time measurement company one of its preferred partners for quantifying and unifying cross-screen media consumption, reach and impressions across its One Platform.
iSpot.tv will support NBCUniversal’s audience verification initiatives for both ads and programme ratings. These currency tests will include a large-scale pilot during two of the most anticipated events of the year – the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Super Bowl LVI – which will be conducted in collaboration with a range of clients across several verticals. Publicis Media will be the first media holding company to test this new measurement across NBCUniversal’s entire One Platform, and utilise these tools to support multiple brands.
iSpot.tv, which provides second-by-second measurement for ads and verified impressions for programming and advertising, will deliver metrics that can be used as an alternative currency across buyers and sellers.
The new deal is part of a transformative effort by NBCUniversal to bring advertisers more accurate, timely and diverse insights that capture the way real audiences consume content and use this broad array of performance metrics to modernise the way video is valued. It comes on the heels of an extensive measurement evaluation process and industry consultation and will lay a new foundation for how NBCUniversal transacts in the 2022-2023 Upfront cycle. Moreover, this commitment to new measurement and more accurate data builds on the company’s recent introduction of NBCUnified, its best-in-class first-party consumer data and identity platform, which will serve as the data spine for these ongoing measurement transformation initiatives.
NBCUniversal will continue to announce its Certified Measurement Partners as they become certified.
“This is not a shift away from one panel-based system to another, but a definitive step toward embracing the metrics brands already use to evaluate media companies,” explained Kelly Abcarian, EVP, Measurement & Impact, NBCUniversal Advertising and Partnerships. “We have an obligation to deliver consumers a great experience, and an obligation to our customers and shareholders to utilise measurement systems that adequately capture the reach, attention, and outcomes we deliver. Our learnings from this partnership will help transform our measurement solutions as we head into the next Upfront season and bring advertisers more data that accurately reflects our audiences, their consumption habits and campaign impact.”
Using iSpot.tv, brands who advertise with NBCU will gain access to real-time airing data for linear, streaming and time-shifted viewing, and receive comprehensive reports on a next-day basis that include metrics such as verified ad impressions, reach and frequency, linear and streaming overlap and incrementality. Measurement will be provided at the household level as well as at the person level for age/gender demos and/or for customised audience segments.
Furthermore, select NBCU advertisers will have access to impact measurement including granular attention and interruption rates, business-outcome reporting and creative performance that includes pre-testing and brand-lift analysis.
“Measurement must reflect the all screen, one video world consumers have created,” asserted John Muszynski, Chairman, Publicis Media Exchange (PMX) US. “Through this test-and-learn across NBCUniversal’s One Platform, PMX will be able to provide its portfolio of brands a more accurate, holistic approach to measurement that prioritises performance and impact. The results of this partnership will serve as the blueprint for the marketplace to transact using improved measurement during the 2022-2023 Upfront Cycle.”
NBCU and iSpot.tv have a long history of collaboration. NBCU was among the first networks to subscribe to verified impressions data when iSpot.tv became the first company to commercialise smart TV data in a measurement application in 2014. And the two partnered again in 2018 to bring business-outcome TV measurement to market.
“NBCU is leaning into giving advertisers what they want: fast, accurate and granular cross-platform measurement that proves the value of investments,” said Sean Muller, founder and CEO of iSpot.tv. “We applaud the work NBCU kicked off last year to accelerate the TV industry toward a more audience-centric, cross-screen and outcome-oriented framework that helps brands invest with confidence.”
In addition to leveraging big data to bring more precise and verified measurement to TV and video, advertisers will be offered a suite of tools to help measure the impact of their ads beyond ad delivery. Building on NBCU and iSpot.tv’s business outcome arrangement established in 2018, the companies will provide full-funnel attribution that correlates TV and video ad exposures to the actions taken as a result. From digital activity on websites and apps to in-store visits and call activity, brands will understand the lift in activity and conversions from their investment in NBCU vs. their total TV and video spend during the same time period.
Using iSpot.tv’s Ace Metrix product, NBCU advertisers can pre-test ad creative to gauge the brand impact, favourability, emotional response and effectiveness of messaging with consumers, and conduct in-flight analysis leveraging large scale and rapidly deployed surveys.
iSpot.tv has been broadly adopted by the video industry and marketing world for its real-time, brand-centric, ads-first measurement model over its near ten-year history. Today, 30 per cent of brand advertisers and 50 per cent of the top 100 television and video advertisers utilise iSpot.tv, providing a new level of transparency to all major media networks.
“iSpot.tv has set a high benchmark for measuring ads at scale and sharing information broadly with the industry,” said Krishan Bhatia, President & Chief Business Officer, NBCUniversal Advertising and Partnerships. “That transparency and dedication to accuracy has established a foundation of trust on all sides of the industry, and made them an ideal partner to conduct such a massive test.”
iSpot.tv uses big data, combined with its proprietary ad catalogue and airings data, to measure and verify ad delivery in real time right on the TV glass. The platform leverages a nationwide footprint of smart TVs and set-top boxes, combined with its ad catalogue and airings, to generate highly precise cross-screen audience measurement that includes completion and interruption rates for ads. The platform measures national linear, local linear, streaming and addressable advertising in a syndicated and automated fashion. iSpot.tv Unified Measurement combines linear and streaming exposures in a single-source system capable of distinguishing sources of viewing and ad or content exposures on the same TV sets.