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iSpot.tv Launches TV Ad Performance Measurement, Straight from 10 Million TV Screens

New Metrics Include View Rates, Impressions, and Unduplicated Reach for All Ads Across Live (National & Local), Time-Shifted, VOD, and OTT

Bellevue and New York January 25, 2016– iSpot.tv, which tracks activity for TV ads in real-time, today announced it is now measuring TV ad performance across more than 10 million TV screens, representing all DMAs, operators, and OTT devices. The company becomes the first to provide the industry with a reliable syndicated system for measuring and verifying TV ad plays on the TV screen across all formats and in real-time.

iSpot has created the technology and capability to identify and track any ad that appears on a TV screen, much in the way that a digital ad can be tracked across the digital landscape. With measurement based on Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) digital video standards, iSpot.tv now provides syndicated impression and average view rate measurement, all without touching personally identifiable information (PII). The measurement takes into account channel switching, fast-forwarding, and other behaviors that interrupt an ad view on TV.

View Rates for TV Ads

The most important measurement for video, iSpot brings average view rate measurement to the TV screen for the first time. Each creative and media buy is measured by number of starts, completions, and quartiles to generate average view rates for a single advertisement, brand, or industry. This measurement is becoming increasingly important as consumers continue to flip channels, fast-forward, and pull up the guide in the middle of TV ads.

Auto Makers - View Rates

Complete Ad Measurement: Linear, Time-shifted, VOD, and OTT

iSpot is able to identify a TV ad impression regardless of the service provider or platform/device used to bring the ad to the TV screen, all in a fully PII compliant manner. iSpot.tv surfaces exactly when an ad was viewed—covering Live (National and Local), Time-shifted, VOD, and OTT. The measurement includes inventories sold by national networks, local affiliates and operators as well as OTT providers.

Auto Makers - Impressions

Complete Ad Measurement: Single Creative to Total Industry View

Auto Makers - Impressions by Brand

Customers can view performance down to a single ad or compare reach and performance across an entire industry.

iSpot.tv has been testing and refining this measurement in the marketplace over the past six months. Major TV advertisers across the entertainment, wireless and CPG categories are utilizing iSpot’s new measurement to assess and optimize their creatives and media buys.

“TV is changing rapidly and the traditional ways of measuring TV advertising simply do not cut it. Brands are becoming more sophisticated in their assessment and optimization of media buys and having real-time, holistic measurement for TV ads is at the center of that,“ said iSpot.tv founder and CEO, Sean Muller.

More on How It Works

The solution includes proprietary technology embedded into TV sets that is able to detect show content as well as all ads that are in iSpot.tv’s commercial catalog. iSpot tags every ad using proprietary fingerprinting technologies and then tracks them on the TV set using a pixel (ACR—automatic content recognition—technology) that can identify what is being viewed on each screen.

Each TV ad impression detected is then classified as a linear national, linear local, or VOD/OTT ad using iSpot.tv proprietary data. The impressions are further classified as live or time-shifted and the length of play for each impression is recorded. The technology is agnostic as to how the content and ads get onto the screen and as such includes the most comprehensive measurement available covering all viewing types: set-top boxes, over-the-air, and OTT devices.

The measurement also covers every zip code at scale, all cable and satellite operators as well as an even representation of household demographics and TV consumption between OTT and non-OTT viewing. The TV set integration, which leverages the infrastructure of connected smart TVs while protecting consumer privacy, collects data passively and at scale.

About iSpot.tv

iSpot.tv tracks and measures TV advertising activity in real-time. The company measures media and performance for TV ads. Media measures includes creative, airings, spend and impressions. Performance measures include share of voice, view rates, engagement and closed-loop sales conversions. iSpot.tv is growing rapidly on strong demand from brands and networks; clients use iSpot for competitive intelligence, ad performance, media strategy and optimization as well as to measure impact of TV ads on sales. Since launching in 2012, iSpot.tv has grown to over 90 employees and more than 150 clients, including many blue-chip brands. It is now home to the world’s largest TV advertising website, with a library of over 100,000 TV ads and more than 5 million monthly visitors. The company has raised $27.8 million in funding, led by New York-based Insight Venture Partners and Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group. Learn more at www.ispot.tv.

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