iSpot.tv tracks ads across digital screens


Details

Michelle Clancy

| 27 January 2016




iSpot.tv, which tracks activity for TV ads in real-time, has started measuring TV ad performance across more than ten million IP-enabled TV screens.



The syndicated system is for measuring and verifying TV ad plays on the TV screen across all formats and in real-time, with measurement based on Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) digital video standards.

The result is that iSpot.tv can provide syndicated impression and average view rate measurement which takes into account channel switching, fast-forwarding and other behaviours that interrupt an ad view on TV.

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 catalogue. iSpot tags every ad using proprietary fingerprinting technologies and then tracks them on the TV set using a pixel-based automatic content recognition 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 video-on-demand (VOD)/over-the-top (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.

“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 optimisation of media buys and having real-time, holistic measurement for TV ads is at the centre of that” said Sean Muller, founder and CEO, iSpot.tv.