NEW YORK—tvScientific, the performance advertising platform for connected TV (CTV), has announced that it is working with Blockgraph, a privacy-focused data collaboration platform, to improve programmatic targeting, measurement, attribution, and optimization across linear and connected TV (CTV). 

The integration of their solutions will help brands to make better use of their first party data in their marketing campaigns, the companies said. 

“Combining programmatic advertising with premium video is a complex challenge, and it’s becoming more complex with the expanding landscape of services and providers,” said David Koye, co-founder and CPO at tvScientific. “Our new partnership with Blockgraph gives our customers the tools they need to confidently and consistently optimize performance even as campaigns become more complicated. Blockgraph’s privacy-focused identity solution gives our customers the security they need to identify and target new audiences and measure their success.”

The new partnership will allow marketers and media companies using tvScientific’s performance advertising platform to activate first party programmatic audience campaigns using Blockgraph’s industry-leading identity platform, the companies said. 

Data owners will be able to safely and seamlessly deploy their aggregated and de-identified first party data. By incorporating retail data into tvScientific’s CTV targeting and measurement platform, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands can target television advertisements to specific households according to their search, purchase and retail history to drive better campaign performance.

“This new partnership brings together our privacy-enhanced, deterministic household identity solution with tvScientific’s sophisticated demand-side platform,” said Jason Manningham, CEO of Blockgraph. “This collaboration will be particularly valuable to tvScientific’s customers, as they will now be able to apply their first party data assets more effectively and increase the overall ROI for their advertising campaigns.”

Compared to their competitors, D2C brands maintain particularly rich catalogs of first party customer data. D2C brands can apply this data to premium video assets—both linear and CTV—to improve campaign targeting, measurement and optimization, the companies said. 

The new partnership between Blockgraph and tvScientific will support inventory both bought and sold programmatically.

One early adopter of the solution has been Lull, a leading mattress brand. "Using tvScientific’s platform to leverage our first party data has allowed us to unlock an additional channel to retarget our existing leads and customers,” said Sharone Almog, vice president of marketing and eCommerce at Lull. “Data drives all of our decisions at Lull, so being able to target unique audiences who we know are interested in our brand has helped us boost campaign performance."

NEW YORK—Blockgraph and NBCUniversal have announced a new partnership to enhance the use of first-party data in ad campaigns. 

As part of the agreement, Blockgraph, which is owned by Charter Communications Inc., Comcast NBCUniversal, and Paramount, will be integrated into NBCU’s One Platform ad technology stack. 

The two companies said that this will enhance the use of first-party data in marketing campaigns across One Platform and drive improved outcomes for brands. By enabling seamless data integration with NBCUnified, advertisers, agencies and measurement companies will be able to use first-party data efficiently for planning, targeting and measurement.

"At NBCUniversal, we see a future where all advertising campaigns activate against first-party and marketer data,"said Krishan Bhatia, President & Chief Business Officer, NBCUniversal Advertising & Partnerships. "And with One Platform and NBCUnified, we're well on our way -- 60% of campaigns across our ad-supported streaming business are already data-enabled, and through our partnership with Blockgraph we will be able to accelerate this growth even further." 

Blockgraph and NBCUniversal explained that the partnership will enable advertisers to more accurately and efficiently match their first-party data sets across media and entertainment platforms, resulting in enhanced data interoperability, more precise audiences and improved campaign performance. 

Agencies and measurement clients will also gain access to richer and more comprehensive data sets, allowing them to deliver more accurate measurement and attribution solutions.

"We are excited about this partnership with NBCUniversal, and look forward to further maximizing the potential of proprietary first-party data across the industry,” added Jason Manningham, CEO of Blockgraph. “Our privacy-first approach ensures secure and compliant data collaboration while allowing brands to unlock important campaign insights and create more value within the rapidly evolving TV landscape."

This news follows Blockgraph’s recent announcement of the launch of GraphPort, which will further scale access to the Blockgraph platform for first-party and first-party-like data deployments. Blockgraph also recently reported 10x improved match rates through their partnership with Kantar, signifying a significant step forward for the accuracy and efficacy of data matching in the TV industry. 

NEW YORK—The trio of Comcast, Charter Communications and ViacomCBS have announced that they will share equal ownership of Blockgraph, a software platform designed to use audience data for advanced TV and premium video advertising.

Blockgraph was first introduced in 2017 as part of Comcast Advertising’s FreeWheel technology unit. Both Charter and ViacomCBS were early supporters. The goal of Blockgraph is to help marketers form insights across their collective platforms without relying exclusively on third parties.

Jason Manningham, who previously served as general manager of Blockgraph under FreeWheel, has been set to lead the new joint venture as the CEO.

“Together with Comcast, Charter and ViacomCBS, we have the opportunity to reshape data driven advertising in a way that’s better and more sustainable for brands, publishers, content distributors and above all else—broadcasters,” said Mannigham.

Charter’s David Kline and ViacomCBS’ John Halley praised the opportunity that Blockgraph offers, but also emphasized the importance of protecting the privacy of consumer data.

Blockgraph is already in use by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which is integrated the software into its AdSmart platform.

NEW YORK—The percentage of advertisers who plan on using data-enabled advertising for their TV ad buys has been growing at a 42% compound annual growth rate for the past three years. By 2020, approximately 40% will use data (to improve planning, targeting and/or analyze attribution) to determine where they place their TV ads according to a new report from Blockgraph, an industry datasharing blockchain-based initiative led by Comcast subsidiary FreeWheel .

This is double the 20% increase in 2018, but for broadcasters to take advantage of this trend they need to adopt new strategies that take a more holistic view of consumer preferences, according to Blockgraph.

Challenges include :

● Inadequate consumer profiles that prevent advertisers from developing a “360-degree view” of their audiences (only 20% of advertisers said they could do this);

● A complex ecosystem of data ownership and sharing that creates an environment that can discourage advertisers from sharing data for fear of leaks to competition;

● Consumer privacy concerns (79% of advertisers are concerned about protecting consumer data, up 10 % from 2018), and

● The use of third-party providers to perform data matching outside the media supply chain prompts inefficiencies and longer turnaround times.  

Jason Manningham, general manager of Blockgraph, said the results of their survey illustrate the unique and complex nature of the TV advertising business when compared to digital.

“The findings confirmed that advertisers are eager to bring additional data to TV, similar to their use of data in digital media. Yet, there is also the recognition that TV is different,” he said. “So, while they are bringing more data to TV, the growth, albeit strong, is actually tempered a bit by today’s challenges.”

Blockgraph’s white paper is available here.