NEW YORK—ITN has announced a new initiative to further expand its programmatic local linear TV platform by integrating Comscore's advanced and qualitative data into the ITN NXTv Programmatic Hub.

The move means that later this year, ITN’s data store will enable buyers to move more easily from planning to activation and provide users with greater precision, accountability, and workflow efficiency.

"This represents the next phase in the evolution of local linear TV," said Todd Watson, CEO of ITN. "We've already built the programmatic foundation. By integrating audience data directly into campaign execution, we're making local TV more precise, measurable, and actionable for advertisers."

"Modern measurement is at the core of how media buying and selling continues to evolve. We're proud to power ITN's self-service linear programmatic platform with advanced audience and behavioral data that enables smarter, more efficient planning," added Hanna Gryncwajg, senior vice president, commercial, Comscore. "Audience-based buying helps advertisers reach the consumers who are more likely to engage, improving campaign performance and ROI. With this launch, ITN is making sophisticated linear programmatic capabilities easier and more accessible for the marketplace."

The move was also praised by Dentsu, which is an alpha partner to the NXTv Programmatic Hub. "Buyers want local TV to align with the rest of their video investments—comparable, measurable, and easier to activate," said Jennifer Hungerbuhler, executive vice president, head of local media investment and productivity at Dentsu. "With Comscore data operationalized in NXTv, we can move from planning to programmatic activation faster and with greater confidence."

Dentsu reported that it will apply Comscore-provided advanced audience segments directly in campaign execution.

A key component of the initiative is a data store within the ITN NXTv Programmatic Hub. Powered by Comscore advanced and qualitative audiences, the data store includes more than eight hundred lifestyle and behavioral segments. As part of the initial rollout, Dentsu will leverage these capabilities to execute programmatic local linear TV campaigns using custom audience segments.

The integration preserves broadcaster control while simplifying impression-based buying for local linear TV—expanding value for both local TV and digital buyers and helping stations protect and grow share of investment.

The NXTv Programmatic Hub enables users to:

• Activate programmatic local linear TV using Comscore lifestyle and behavioral audience data across activation and post-campaign reporting.
• Create and manage custom Deal IDs informed by Comscore advanced data.
• Execute detailed programmatic buys through an integration with Magnite's ClearLine enabling activation across linear television.
• Monitor delivery in unified dashboards across linear and digital video.
• ITN's programmatic infrastructure, Comscore's audience intelligence, and Dentsu's sophisticated approach to activation are leading the industry to reduce friction and improve accountability across the local TV supply chain.

ITN also reported that the initiative strengthens local linear TV by adding programmatic intelligence, automation, and transparency to its unmatched reach. In the future, ITN will extend these capabilities to enhanced deal structures, advanced analytics dashboards, and AI buyer-to-seller agents to translate natural language prompts for streamlined submissions, bidding, and delivery.

For more information, visit itn.tv

RESTON, Va.—As media companies continue to grapple with the impact that AI is having on digital audiences and traffic, Comscore has released its first AI Intelligence Report for 2026 with new data highlighting a number of emerging trends.

The report shows the scale of breakout growth from Anthropic’s Claude platform. Based on Comscore’s panel data, the Q1 report revealed that Claude recorded 1,858% growth in desktop conversations between March 2026 and October 2025. While ChatGPT continues to lead the AI assistant category up 55% year over year, the report shows consumers are using a wider range of options.

The report also found that women are emerging as key drivers of mobile AI adoption across major generative AI tools. In March, women posted mobile index scores of 113 for ChatGPT, 123 for Copilot, and 118 for Gemini, the data showed. Men across those respective platforms had scores of 87, 77 and 82 over the same period, Comscore found. These findings further highlight the influence AI is having on a consumer’s on-the-go and day-to-day behavior.

“Comscore is providing some of the industry’s first visibility into AI-influenced intent behavior, as AI rapidly becomes the prime gateway for consumer awareness, attention, and decision-making,” said Smriti Sharma, executive vice president of analytics and managing director of Custom IQ at Comscore. “For brands and publishers, understanding how AI shapes discovery, which sources it references, and how those interactions translate into measurable business outcomes will be increasingly critical in the evolving digital landscape.”

Other key findings from the Comscore Q1 2026 AI Intelligence include:

• ChatGPT remained the category leader, reaching 244 million desktop conversations in March, up 55% year over year.
• ChatGPT also led in March with 87 million desktop visitors, compared to 44 million for Copilot and 30 million for Gemini.
• Claude reached 22 million desktop conversations in March, up 1,858% compared from October 2025, signaling growing consumer interest in alternative AI assistant experiences.
• In Q1 2026, AI assistant tools reached 36% of desktop users and 23% of mobile users.
• AI search is becoming a new discovery layer. U.S. desktop searches reached 76 billion in Q1 2026, up 10% versus Q1 2024, as AI search experiences became more integrated into traditional search behavior.
• AI is influencing high-consideration purchase journeys. In consumer credit cards, AI Overviews appeared alongside 46% of paid search ads in Q4 2025, up from 21% in Q2 2025. Over the past three quarters, approximately 25% of credit card applicants were exposed to AI Overviews, and roughly 5% applied directly from pages where AI Overviews appeared.
• Prompt behavior reveals how consumers refine decisions. In March 2026, users averaged 4.9 prompts per conversation on ChatGPT, 4.6 on Gemini and 7.1 on Copilot, showing that AI interactions are often multi-turn journeys rather than one-off queries.

The full AI Intelligence report for Q1 2026 is available for download here.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore’s new “2025 State of Streaming” report highlights the growing importance of ad-supported streaming services and FAST channels, with data showing big gains across the board for those services.

According to the report, total hours watched across major free ad supported streaming services grew by 43% year-over-year this August compared to August 2024.

Ad-supported tiers have also gained popularity across major subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services. Netflix now sees 45% of total household viewing hours on its ad-supported tier, up from 34% just one year ago.

“Consumers are navigating crowded streaming options with the clear intention that they want value, simplicity, and content that’s easy to access,” said Jen Carton, Comscore’s senior vice president of product management. “This year’s State of Streaming reflects that shift and shows how FAST and ad-supported options are meeting those needs in a way that’s culturally resonant and commercially viable. For Comscore, our mission is to illuminate this transformation and help the industry understand what’s next.”

Overall, connected TV streaming in internet-enabled homes reached 96.4 million households, an increase of 849,000 year-over-year, the new Comscore study indicated.

Time spent streaming rose to 13.9 billion hours, a 6% increase year-over-year. The average household watched content from 6.9 streaming services, reflecting modest growth as the market reaches maturity, Comscore reported.

With households now streaming video for nearly 5 hours per day, it has become the default viewing experience for millions of Americans, the researchers said. For many households, creator-driven video sits alongside premium series, sports and films as everyday viewing. Platforms like YouTube are no longer viewed as “separate categories” but as integral parts of the streaming diet. As the report points out, “more than half of U.S. households stream YouTube content monthly for free.”

The full State of Streaming 2025 report, which explores the trends shaping the future of content, advertising, and technology across screens, is available here.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that its AI-powered ID-free audiences offering has been integrated into Yahoo DSP, adding to the existing suite of targeting solutions offered by the demand side ad platform.

With this integration, Yahoo DSP clients can now activate Comscore’s ID-free audiences directly within the Yahoo DSP, giving advertisers a scalable, privacy-by-design solution that can be leveraged across desktop, mobile, and CTV., the companies said.

“At Comscore, we’re committed to helping brands understand consumers and we’re rewriting the industry playbook for how consumer insights are collected and applied, without compromising on privacy,” said Steve Bagdasarian, Comscore’s chief commercial officer. “This expanded partnership with Yahoo DSP empowers advertisers to activate AI-powered, ID-free audiences, reaching the right consumers without sacrificing performance or budget efficiency.”

ID-free audiences, which uses Comscore’s first-party data, contextual technology, and proprietary AI, is designed to help advertisers more efficiently target audiences, with many clients seeing lower CPMs, higher CTRs, and lower CPAs, Comscore said.

The integration builds on the ID-free targeting strategies already available in Yahoo DSP which is now providing an even more powerful suite of tools, Yahoo reported.

“Yahoo has long been committed to simplifying how advertisers reach their target audiences at scale in a privacy-forward way through our premium DSP. Our expanded partnership with Comscore is another important step in achieving these goals,” said Giovanni Gardelli, vice president of ads data products, Yahoo DSP. “By offering Comscore ID-free audiences directly in our platform, we’re enabling our clients to deliver better outcomes while balancing the need for user privacy.”

The integration is now live and available to all Yahoo DSP clients.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore, Inc. has announced it has been awarded accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for its household-level TV measurement. This accreditation covers Comscore’s national and local TV Time-Based Grid reports for household, age and gender “households with” metrics.

Comscore noted that the announcement builds on the MRC accreditation Comscore was awarded last year, which made Comscore the first industry provider leveraging big data to earn accreditation for both local and national TV Time Based Grid reports for Total Household Rating and Average Audience estimates.

Comscore remains the only measurement service to be accredited by the MRC in all 210 local markets based on big data device tuning measurement, the company said.

"This MRC accreditation reinforces Comscore’s leadership in big-data measurement and sets us apart in today’s evolving multi-currency TV landscape," said Jon Carpenter, CEO, Comscore. "By leveraging big data from the local level up, we’re delivering a unified, scalable measurement system that provides advertisers and broadcasters with consistent, geographically precise insights that they can rely on to run their business.”

Comscore TV’s accreditation was the culmination of a comprehensive and detailed process that included an independent audit conducted by the MRC’s engaged CPA firm, with the oversight and eventual approval of the MRC’s Board of Directors.

“We greatly appreciate the continued efforts and commitment by Comscore in the MRC accreditation process and congratulate Comscore on achieving accreditation of its household, age and gender ‘households with’ data,” said George Ivie CEO and executive director of the MRC. “This recognition signifies this National and Local data adheres to MRC Standards and we look forward to our continued work with Comscore to expand the scope of accredited metrics.”

The Media Rating Council is a non-profit industry association established in 1963 comprised of leading television, radio, print and digital media companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations, whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective.

At NAB Show, a number of exhibitors are offering technology designed to help broadcasters generate additional revenue in a changing advertising market.

Traditional linear broadcast is becoming more digital, opening new opportunities for more sophisticated advertising that can help monetize content as it is distributed to multiple platforms.

“It’s certainly a pivotal time,” Emily Boucher, staff product manager at Brightcove, said. “Preserving the overall viewer experience is going to be top of mind. The industry is still working to perfect its ad-insertion technology.”

Beyond that, digital technology offers personalization and targeting, especially on connected TV, where standards are still being developed.

DATA’S KEY PART

“Data is starting to play a big role,” she said. Brightcove’s Ad Insights product is designed to bridge the gap between viewer engagement with content and what’s happening in the ad server. For example, by collecting metrics on viewer engagement and tolerance for ads, the length and frequency of commercial breaks can be adjusted.

“I think ad insights are certainly a differentiator and an area that we are really looking to extend into continuous product development,” Boucher said.

“None of this is easy,” she added. “There’s a misconception that you can do this with a click of a button. There’s still a lot under the hood that goes into it.” And even once the technology is in place, she said, it continues to evolve.

LTN is focusing on network-based media enrichment, according to Malik Khan, co-founder and executive chairman. Creating content is expensive, and to monetize it, you must put it on multiple platforms and create customized ad opportunities for each stream.

“It has to be network-based because you have to bring content in on a mass scale, reliably and distribute it in a customized way,” Khan said. “If you’re data processing-centric and you don’t pay attention to the network side, your costs go through the roof.”

Serving ads in those multiple streams is based on signals, which requires inserting metadata and triggers into the content early in the production process, said Brad Wall, LTN’s chief technology officer.

“What we’ve been focused on a lot the last year and a half is creating services inside of our network, things that traditionally needed to be at the broadcast center and at the integrated receiver decoder [set-top box or satellite receiver] at the other end,” Wall said.

Traditional broadcast and digital video are becoming more similar. “The baked-in ad pod and the baked-in spot inside of a linear broadcast, those days are sort of dwindling,” he said. “The idea is that you can monetize your content in a more dynamic way. We’ve been talking about this for over 15 years, but it is really maturing rapidly and that will be the revenue gold standard of the future.”

Automation is a big part of making that happen, replacing human-to-human communications with machine-to-machine interactions, Wall said.

That’s particularly true when televising sports. Automation and artificial intelligence will be able to determine quickly what ads should run when there’s an injury timeout or some other stoppage. “They happen when they happen,” Khan said. “You can’t schedule them.”

ALL ABOUT AUDIENCE

Ad-tech company Showseeker also sees the traditional and digital TV worlds converging.

“While viewership is increasingly fragmented, both broadcast and MVPDs are on a path to convergence as the entire industry works toward a more unified, audience-based approach to selling advertising,” CEO Ed Hardy said.

“We expect this trend of audience-based selling to be a major discussion point, especially as industry leaders look to modernize their tech stack, reduce costs and improve operational efficiencies.”

ShowSeeker is displaying its all-in-one Pilot campaign and order management platform.

“The entire television industry needs improved, faster and more automated technology that can support this new era of buying and selling advertising,” Hardy said.

Measurement company Comscore is an NAB Show exhibitor. Frank Friedman, chief data and analytics officer and head of cross-plartform measurement, expects discussions about the new multicurrency ecosystem beyond just the Nielsen ratings and what that means for the future of television, streaming included.

Comscore is hosting a panel and cocktail reception. It has invited industry leaders and change-makers to unpack the benefits and collateral damage of the local media revolution and to pave the way for next-gen audience measurement.

“With perspectives from both sides of the fence, the discussion will focus on redefining our industry glossary around currency vs. currency accreditation, linear channels vs. programmatic pipes, and the noise in Big Data vs. the role of digital tech in revitalizing the local ecosystem,” Friedman said.

COPYRIGHT NAB 2025.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has named Frank Friedman as its new chief data and analytics officer and head of measurement.

Friedman, who has a career spanning agency, research, publishing, and client leadership, will oversee the company’s data governance, drive currency adoption efforts, and develop tailored measurement playbooks for a variety of customers, Comscore said.

Friedman comes to Comscore from station group E.W. Scripps Co., where he pushed for new approaches to measurement and negotiated its first agreement with Comscore. He advocated for the consolidation of data organization into a single holistic group for both National and Local divisions, and worked at Publicis Groupe on improving efficiencies in planning and buying, Comscore said.

“I am delighted to welcome Frank Friedman to the executive team at Comscore as we navigate the next frontier of measurement for our customers and the industry more broadly,” Comscore CEO Jon Carpenter said. “Frank has consistently been at the forefront of challenging convention and implementing disciplined strategies to drive change, and we are excited to bring his perspective to our organization during this stage of our transformation.”

Committed to advancing data analytics, rigorous measurement governance, and fostering collaboration, Friedman has also held pivotal board and committee positions with industry bodies and key organizations including the Media Rating Council (MRC), Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and Video Advertising Bureau (VAB).

“I’ve been a cheerleader for change from every side of the ecosystem to help solve the industry’s toughest challenges,” Friedman said. “In previous roles, I leveraged the power of data to disrupt and drive growth, now in joining Comscore, I’m thrilled to shape the next era of what is possible in omnichannel measurement at such a pivotal moment for the ecosystem.”

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has appointed Jackelyn Keller as its new chief marketing officer.

Keller, who has extensive expertise in linear TV, streaming, digital and programmatic advertising, product marketing and revenue strategy, had been an adviser to Comscore’s leadership team, focusing on simplified positioning, creative strategy and go-to-market efforts, including the launch of evergreen franchises the Comscore Data Divas and Barbershop, Beauty and Local Buzz.

Keller was previously head of market intelligence and global product strategy at Samsung Ads, where she developed foundational product positioning and helped launch Samsung DSP. She later joined Quantcast, an artificial intelligence-powered demand side platform, as global head of product marketing. She has also been with Discovery Communications and Turner Broadcasting, working on ad sales, marketing and pricing teams.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Jackelyn to the executive team,“ Comscore CEO Jon Carpenter said. “She will play a crucial role in shaping the company’s future as we continue to innovate and deliver unparalleled value to our partners. Her background in operations, product and revenue strategy, paired with her exceptional talent for positioning and creating accessible branding, exemplifies our unwavering commitment to empowering our clients in this rapidly evolving media landscape. We are confident that her leadership will drive our mission forward and elevate our efforts to help our clients thrive."

Said Keller: “As a company that’s been trailblazing measurement innovation andensuring objectivity for over 25 years, I’m delighted to join Comscore during this transformative time in which consumers are in the driver's seat. With Comscore’s rich assets, we will continue lighting the way for the industry, serving as the bridge to a largely programmatic future as well as writing the measurement playbook for streaming, local, and national measurement.”

Keller holds a bachelor’s degree in English communications with a minor in political science from Yeshiva University. She earned an MBA from the Fordham Gabelli School of Business, where she has been an adjunct professor since fall 2021.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that it has renewed and expanded its measurement deal with Gray Media.

As part of the multiyear agreement, Comscore will continue as a key local measurement currency provider for Gray and provide additional advanced demographics as well as more-precise audience insights across screens.

“We appreciate Comscore’s continued advancements in audience measurement and are pleased to roll out these solutions across more of our stations,” Gray Media senior managing vice president and chief revenue officer Matt Jaquint said.

With the renewed agreement, Gray will adopt Comscore Campaign Ratings (CCR), Comscore’s cross-platform measurement solution, starting in 2025. CCR will enable Gray to deliver comprehensive cross-platform insights with in-flight monitoring, ensuring advertisers achieve maximum campaign efficiency, Comscore said.

Additionally, Gray Media has added more TV stations, including its broadcast regional sports networks, for measurement by Comscore.

It will now also use Comscore’s Advanced Audience solutions, including County, Automotive, Political data and Plan Metrix, which enables marketers to plan against very specific audiences based on behavior.

These capabilities will provide Gray’s advertisers with precise insights and deduplicated measurement across screens in such key metrics as reach, frequency, incrementality and co-viewing.

“This expanded partnership represents a significant step forward in the measurement space as we continue to work alongside Gray Media to provide data-driven insights that fuel their continued growth and success,” Comscore chief commercial officer Steve Bagdasarian said. “We take pride in Gray’s confidence in our advanced cross-platform audience measurement solutions and are pleased to expand this important relationship.”

IRVINE, Calif.—Viant Technology said it has expanded its integration with Comscore, enabling Viant to use the audience measurement firm’s data to train ViantAI, which the company bills as the world’s first fully autonomous media buying platform.

The integration will allow ViantAI to leverage site ranking and audience reach data in creating media plans, offering advertisers and agencies the assurance of insights from a respected measurement and analytics partner. ViantAi uses data-driven insights to help clients create and optimize media plans with greater precision and effectiveness in seconds, the company said.

“ViantAI is making AI-as-a-Service a reality for advertisers,” Viant CEO Tim Vanderhook said. “As a strategic enhancement to our robust ViantAI platform, this partnership with Comscore provides an additional layer of reliable third-party data. By training ViantAI with Comscore data, we’re reinforcing our credible AI-powered planning recommendations with trusted rankings and reach data, giving clients the confidence to make informed decisions.”

The expanded collaboration with Comscore is part of Viant’s effort to help its clients create more effective media strategies using AI technologies.

“We're thrilled to integrate the industry's leading audience data with ViantAI, delivering groundbreaking solutions to the market that advertisers can trust,” Steve Bagdasarian, chief commercial officer at Comscore, said. “Our data equips advertisers with essential insights on digital audience reach and site rankings, all seamlessly within the ViantAI platform.”

Missed any of our recent product news? Here is TV Tech's weekly wrap-up of new products, services and deployments we published in our newsletter between August 12 to August 16. The stories are listed from the newest on Friday August 16, day by day back to our stories from Monday August 12.

Prime Focus Technologies to Debut CLEAR AI Agents at IBC 2024

The CLEAR AI Agents are designed to assist & co-work with professionals to execute specific tasks across content management, post-production, and marketing.

Leader and Phabrix to Show T&M Solutions at IBC 2024

They will be showcasing test and measurement solutions for the complete manufacturing & broadcast production chain.

RTL Deutschland Expands FAST Channel Offering

The new FAST channels are powered by Harmonic; netorium integrated the news FAST channels into RTL’s operations.

MRMC To Unveil Studiobot LT, Cinebot At IBC 2024

Studiobot LT is well-suited for box cameras with a studio lens and supports a wide envelope of motion.

Florida Panthers Launch New DTC Streaming Service

For the new season, every locally-produced game will stream live on new apps and air on broadcast over-the-air.

Cineverse Partners with Wurl on FAST Channels

The agreement will bring new channels to viewers, while also enhancing Cineverse’s monetization and discovery capabilities.

EvertzAV Brings Cutting-Edge AVoIP Solutions to IBC 2024

These IP routable products and solutions deliver high quality and high reliability to AV professionals working across numerous disciplines.

Marshall Brings Auto Tracking To IBC 2024 with New CV612 PTZ Camera

The system automatically tracks, follows and frames presenters using AI facial learning for accurate and smooth self-adjusting maneuvers.

ESPN Inks Deal with Genius Sports to Expand Data Capabilities for Basketball Coverage

The deal will expand ESPN's data-driven storytelling in its coverage of NCAA basketball, NBA and WNBA.

Harmonic Launches New SaaS Version of Its Distribution Management System

Running on the public cloud, Harmonic's DMS X SaaS brings playout control capabilities to its XOS advanced media processor.

Horizon Media Taps Comscore as Preferred Contextual Intelligence Provider

Clients of the largest U.S. media agency will be able to use Proximic by Comscore's AI-powered contextual technology.

ATSC To Exhibit 3.0 Developments At Brazil’s SET Expo 2024

ATSC will exhibit at the SET Expo 2024 at the Distrito Anhembi Convention Center in San Paulo, Brazil, Aug. 19-22, on the heels of the SBTVD Forum recommending adoption of the ATSC 3.0 physical layer to the Brazilian government for its TV 3.0 next-generation terrestrial broadcast standard.

Veritone Makes AI M&E Solutions Available in AWS Marketplace

Among the AI software in the marketplace are Veritone Digital Media Hub, Discovery and Attribute.

CommScope Announces First Major Sale of Newly Acquired Casa vCCAP Solution

vCCAP will be used to support significant distributed access architecture deployment in Hungary.

BNS Partners with NPAW to Enhance Video Analytics Reporting in North America

The partnership will help NPAW expand its footprint in North America.

Elation Delivers Dynamic PULSE For First-Ever Live Broadcast from Sphere

Lighting designer Tom Kenny debuted PULSE PANEL FX for the NHL Draft in Las Vegas.

Signiant to Highlight Latest Innovations, Partnership at IBC 2024

Among the partnerships is the company’s new collaboration with TMT Insights.

DVEO to Introduce Brutus Cloud Video Distribution Platform at IBC 2024

Brutus Cloud provides high-performance, flexible transcoding and streaming for IPTV, OTT and FAST TV.

Globo Shows Off TV 2.5 Enhancements on Hisense TVs During Paris Olympics

The broadcaster demoed Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Fraunhofer’s MPEG-H Audio.

Historic Billy Joel Concert Captured On ARRI Cameras For Multi-Cam Production

To capture Billy Joel’s 100th consecutive performance of his residency at Madison Square Garden, show producers turned to ARRI’s ALEXA 35 and Mini LF cameras.

Missed any of our recent product news? Here is TV Tech's weekly wrap-up of new products, services and deployments we published in our newsletter between July 29 to August 2. The stories are listed from the newest on Friday August 2, day by day back to our stories from Monday July 29

JVC Begins Shipping New KM-IP12S8 Series vMix 4K Video Switchers

The latest JVC Solutions are designed for multi-camera productions of live sports and events.

Vivo Taps Harmonic to Power Caliente TV Sports Channel

Harmonic's VOS360 Media SaaS-based Solution is being used to simplify media processing, playout and primary distribution for a new sports channel in Mexico.

EVS Acquires MOG Technologies

The deal will expand its market reach and further support the extension of EVS’ MediaCeption workflows.

Ateliere Launches Its New `Connect AI’ Offering

At IBC 2024 Atelier will be showing what it is billing as the industry’s first end-to-end GenAI media supply chain solution.

VITAC To Demo Latest AI Captioning, Translation Advancements at IBC 2024

The company’s AI-powered Captivate captioning solution lowers the cost of captioning.

Sony Ships M2L-X Live Production Switcher

The switcher leverages hybrid procession and operations for on-premises and cloud production.

Comcast, Comscore Expand Cross-Platform Measurement Efforts

Enhanced partnership will allow Comscore clients to tap into Comcast Advertising’s Signal Authentication solution to increase fidelity of measurement and attribution.

Rohde & Schwarz To Showcase Latest Updates To Gallium, StreamMaster, PRISMON At IBC Show

Its Gallium and StreamMaster playout environment now runs on the latest Windows and Linus releases.

Dolby Acquires THEO Technologies

The deal will help Dolby expand its solutions for live sports and entertainment that enable viewers to interact with content while watching on different screens.

Atomos Unveils Shinobi II HDR Monitor

The new high-brightness HDR monitor is designed for vloggers, creatives and photographers.

iSpot Launches Cross-Platform Measurement Offering for TikTok

The solution enables brands to verify the audience overlap and incremental reach TikTok delivers against linear TV.

CommScope Launches STARLINE ESD 1.8 GHz Amplifiers

The ESD amplifiers offer substantial upgrades for DOCSIS 3.1 networks and an incremental path to DOCSIS 4.0.

Bahrain TV Launches Middle East’s First IP Playout System

State broadcaster tapped Grass Valley for the upgrade.

Critical Connection: Automotive ATSC 3.0

Experts discuss ATSC 3.0's role in automotive connectivity.

Comscore Introduces Comprehensive Cross-Platform YouTube Audience Measurement

Comscore measurement and video insights are now available for YouTube traffic on desktop, mobile and CTV.

Wohler Announces 3G-SDI To 12G-SDI Upgrade Path

The new module, OPT-RMOC-12G, makes it possible to migrate a 3G-SDI capable monitor to a 12G-SDI (4K) capable monitor.

Wooden Camera Introduces Accessory System for Canon EOS C400

The system integrates with a wide range of Wooden Camera, Canon and third-party accessories.

Avid Unveils Latest Version Of Media Composer

The release adds a new transcript tool, deeper Pro Tools compatibility and enhanced collaboration.

Vegas Creative Software Launches Vegas Pro 22

Improvements to the video engine enable new AI-assisted features, text-based editing and enhanced audio tools.

Dot Group Showcases AI-Driven Solutions for M&E at IBC 2024

Dot will sponsor the AI Tech Zone networking area, highlighting innovative data management solutions.

PMVG Launches NextGen TV Station in Cookeville, Tenn.

The Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), a business development consortium of 32 public stations, has launched NextGen broadcasting service on W35DZ-D, its low-power station in Cookeville, Tennessee.

ADMC Riyadh Deploys Ikegami HDK-99 HDR Camera Systems

Each system comprises an HDK-99 camera head, FA-97A fiber interface, BSX-100H base station, VFL-P700A viewfinder and OCP-300 operation control unit.

Leader Electronics of Europe to Feature New ZEN-W Series Advanced Analyzers at IBC Show

Test and measurement specialist Leader Electronics of Europe will make the European debut of its ZEN-W Series of advanced analyzers at IBC 2024, Sept. 13-16, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

V-Nova, Amlogic to Support MPEG-5 LCEVC on Amlogic SoCs

V-Nova and Amlogic have announced a partnership to support MPEG-5 LCEVC on Amlogic SoCs.

Pliant to Showcase New Compact Crewcom Radio Pack at IBC2024

Professional intercoms provider Pliant Technologies will highlight its new CRP-C12 Compact Radio Pack at IBC2024, Sept. 13-17 at the RAI Amsterdam.

Disney, NBC and NFL Among IBC2024 Innovation Awards Finalists

IBC has announced the finalists for this year’s IBC Innovation Awards, taking place on Sunday, Sept. 15 during IBC2024 in the RAI Amsterdam.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that it is now providing comprehensive measurement of YouTube audiences across all digital devices in the U.S.  

Comscore said that in July it began delivering a holistic view of YouTube traffic across desktop, mobile, and connected TV (CTV). This new capability expanded Comscore’s existing reporting for YouTube video traffic on desktop and mobile browsers, as well as in mobile apps. 

“Comscore is solving for the convergent shift in cross-platform audiences and continues to lead in digital and video measurement that incorporates person-level insights and deduplicates video audiences across digital,” said Steve Bagdasarian, Comscore chief commercial officer. “Bringing YouTube CTV to Comscore’s Video Metrix Multi-Platform suite will give publishers complete reporting of its reach across all video platforms.” 

With this upgrade, Comscore’s Video Metrix Multi-Platform now includes YouTube CTV data, inclusive of co-viewing, in the U.S. Additionally, this release includes the ability for Comscore clients to access Traffic Sharing in our YouTube CTV measurement. 

Regions outside the U.S. will see the total YouTube audience view beginning in 2025, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain and the U.K., the company reported.

RESTON, Va.—As media companies explore alternative measurement systems for audiences and ads, Comscore has announced that it has been granted accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for the Total Household Rating and Average Audience estimates in both its national and local TV Time Based Grid reports.

This outcome makes Comscore the only measurement company accredited by MRC for its local TV measurement, and the only accredited national measurement that leverages “big data” science and methodology. This also marks the first time a TV measurement provider has been accredited in all 210 measured local markets based on device tuning measurement, Comscore said. 

“Achieving MRC accreditation is a banner moment for Comscore, and positions us as the only accredited company for ‘big data’ reporting for both local TV and at the national level using the same methodology. It underscores Comscore’s dedication to delivering unparalleled data quality and reliability to our clients, setting new standards for measurement with national scale and local precision,” said Jon Carpenter, CEO, Comscore. "The insights we're now able to deliver, built on MRC accredited big data measurement, are a massive differentiator for Comscore amid rapid change in the market.”

Comscore TV’s accreditation was the culmination of a rigorous process that included an independent audit conducted by a CPA firm engaged by the MRC, and a review of the audit report by a committee composed of MRC member organization representatives. MRC accreditation signifies that Comscore’s methodologies and processes meet the organization’s industry established standards, designed to ensure transparency and accountability in measurement, the company said. 

Comscore continues to work with the MRC, as part of an ongoing review, on Comscore TV’s estimates for households overlaid with age/gender demographic breaks and households with compositions, which are not part of this announcement and are not accredited by the MRC at this time.

"Comscore is to be commended for the significant effort they have made over a number of years to put enhancements and upgrades into place in response to our feedback,” said George W. Ivie, executive director and CEO, the Media Rating Council. "The commitment and dedication that the Comscore team has demonstrated has been exemplary and has led directly to the accreditation they’ve achieved today, a distinction which will benefit the industry as a whole.”

The Media Rating Council is a non-profit industry association established in 1963 composed of leading television, radio, print and digital media companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations, whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced a multi-year agreement with Nexstar Media Group to provide cross-platform audience measurement for Nexstar’s local TV, broadcast, network, and digital businesses.

Comscore has provided local market measurement to Nexstar since 2010 and the new deal marks an expansion of that relationship.

The agreement at a time when Nielsen has been under increasing pressure to improve its measurement offerings.  Nexstar announced last summer that it was looking for a “next-generation audience partner” and that it has hired a new vice president of measurement innovation to lead the search. 

Last July, Nexstar said it has issued an open Request for Proposals "seeking a next-generation audience measurement partner capable of providing data that accurately reflects the scale and power of the company’s national and local media  businesses." 

“Comscore is proud to expand its relationship with Nexstar Media Group to empower Nexstar’s advertisers to unlock optimal reach across key markets and platforms. Nexstar will offer unmatched value to advertisers in a critical election year and beyond, by seamlessly validating its true audience reach with market level precision down to the specific region across linear and digital,” said Comscore CEO Jon Carpenter. “Our partnership demonstrates our ability to eliminate costly ‘make goods’ as Nexstar leverages the strengths of Comscore’s cross-platform solutions to ensure ad dollars are optimized across non-linear mediums to complete incremental reach to what is achieved by linear television.”

“Comscore’s ability to provide us with total audience measurement metrics across our local television stations and websites, NewsNation, The CW Network, and The Hill, enables our cross-platform sales team to leverage our unique scale and reach to customize bespoke advertising and marketing solutions for our clients,” said Michael Biard, Nexstar’s president and chief operating officer.  “We look forward to offering our advertisers deeper insight into who is watching and interacting with our programming and when they are doing so, enabling them to focus on the audiences they want to reach.”

Financial terms of the agreement were not announced.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has concluded a multi-year measurement license with the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League. The agreement will provide the hockey team with instant access to local market audience data via Comscore's local television measurement solution.

As a result of the deal, Comscore Local TV will be the exclusive measurement solution to support programming insights and revenue opportunities in the nine local markets, including Minneapolis-St. Paul and Milwaukee, that air the Wild's games and original programming.

"With Comscore as our new primary measurement solution, we now have an understanding of our audience at a level of granularity we had never seen before," said chief revenue officer and executive vice president, Mitch Helgerson. "The Comscore Local TV data allows our sales and marketing organization much greater visibility into market activity as we continue to expand our programming footprint."

"Live sports continue to be a driver of ratings and impressions for live linear television, however, to develop a deep understanding of those audiences and harness insights to grow fandom requires a level of measurement precision and granularity that only Comscore can provide. We look forward to supporting the Minnesota Wild and are excited by their immediate success resulting from the use of our measurement," said Carol Hinnant, executive vice president and executive advisor for currency strategy & initiatives at Comscore.

Comscore's local TV solution combines real-world TV viewership information with advanced household-level consumer and demographic data, providing greater accuracy to customers' advertiser base, Comscore said.

NEW YORK—Comscore has announced it is adding social metrics in its Media Metrix Multi-Platform suite, which provides a deduplicated view of audiences across desktop, mobile, and social to enable publishers and brands to measure their comprehensive total digital population.

The company is billing the move as a first in the digital/social measurement space and said the new metrics and tools allows publishers and brands to deduplicate social audiences and see who is unique to a particular platform. This allows brands to see which users are actually replicated in social media platforms and will help them make their ad campaigns to be more efficient and effective.

“Comscore’s methodology streamlines data with precision and uncovers interconnections across platforms, enabling us to deliver unique reach metrics that now include social,” said Greg Dale, COO at Comscore. “It’s a solution only made achievable by the massive scale of Comscore’s proprietary digital panel. Our Social Incremental methodology, which is inherently privacy-first, allows publishers with significant social presence to capture and monetize the full value of their deduplicated audiences across their entire footprint.”

In announcing the new metrics and features, Comscore also provided statements from several users applauding the development. 

“Buzzfeed has built significant scale both on our own properties and offsite across all major social platforms…and Comscore’s Social Incremental reporting will allow us to demonstrate how we can deliver strong value to our partners both on our own sites and now also through our huge social reach,” said Jörn Rose, director of platform growth analytics at BuzzFeed.

“iHeart is excited to add social media fans into our Comscore audience, because these are some of our most vital and fastest growing audiences,” added Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia’s Digital Audio Group.  “Also, notably, the scale of this social media audience is totally unique to iHeartMedia in the audio space: We are the only audio company in the country with this massive, engaged audience across all social platforms – driving home the fact that we are a companionship company like none other.”

NEW YORK—With the 2024 U.S. election cycle projected to produce over $10 billion in spending, Proximic by Comscore has launched a new suite of audience segments that reach users based on exposure to specific political campaigns and local TV exposure. The new segments are initially available exclusively to clients of global digital media-buying platform, The Trade Desk.

Proximic, which is a division of Comscore and a leading provider of audience and content targeting solutions for programmatic activation, said the new segments allow marketers to reach political audiences in a privacy-centric way, using Comscore's unique, customizable political TV ad exposure segments. Available at the presidential, senate, house and gubernatorial level, Proximic by Comscore is designed to provide marketers with precise and scalable ways to reach their intended audiences.

"As more political advertisers look for ways for greater reach with right audiences, digital advertising becomes a critically important component to media campaigns. The open internet provides opportunities for political advertisers to apply more data to better understand what messages resonate with audiences," said Kevin Fisher, general manager, business development, The Trade Desk. "In working with Proximic by Comscore, we're presenting an innovative and privacy-centric offering to marketers across connected TV."

"With the 2024 election season on the horizon and record-breaking spending anticipated, Proximic is excited to integrate our Political Ad Exposure segments into The Trade Desk to empower advertisers to reach political audiences in a privacy-centric manner," said Rachel Gantz, managing director of Proximic by Comscore. "Media buyers will now have the ability to extend reach and drive incrementality over linear, to effectively compete in this hyper-competitive race."

The political TV ad exposure custom segments are available as ID-based audiences and ID-free contextual Predictive Audiences.

Primary use cases include:

• Reach extension: Marketers can suppress viewers of a candidate's linear TV ads to achieve digital and CTV incrementality.
• Amplify frequency: Marketers can reach viewers of a candidate's linear TV ads to increase or reduce frequency across other channels.
• Increase share of voice: Marketers can target audiences who have been exposed to competitor candidates' ads, to increase their own share of voice.
• The launch of Proximic by Comscore's political local TV ad exposure segments adds to Proximic's existing offering of dynamic political advertising capabilities..

Comscore has announced a partnership with Roku that will see Roku integrated into Comscore's cross-platform measurement solution Comscore Campaign Ratings(CCR).

The partnership with Roku will allow Comscore’s clients at agencies and advertisers to access Roku-specific co-viewing data. 

In announcing the agreement, Comscore reported that audience habits have become more dynamic across multiple devices, with 81% of total U.S. households (with WIFI) streaming TV content. Currently, the average household views five streaming TV services over the course of one month (July 2023). During the same period, U.S. households spent a combined 10.7 billion hours streaming. 

Those trends have made co-viewing data more important and measurement solutions that allow advertising to track precise campaign performance across all screens become an essential tool for advertisers trying to optimize spend and manage frequency. 

Comscore also stressed that as ad dollars shift to streaming TV, much of this consumption occurs on Roku; 38% of US household streaming TV hours are spent on Roku. Looking year over year, Comscore reported a 16% increase in households viewing Streaming TV on a Roku device (2022-2023). 

With the integration, Comscore is now an approved measurement vendor in Roku’s Measurement Partner Program. That enables agencies and advertisers to make critical campaign decisions with confidence by unlocking Roku-specific co-viewing. Clients can quantify the number of people watching the screen, beyond counting the household, and measure key audiences within Comscore’s cross-platform, persons-level reporting.

In addition, Comscore said that analysis of Roku ad campaigns with Comscore Campaign Ratings (CCR) quantifies not only in-target reach and frequency on the Roku platform but also campaign incrementality to linear TV. 

For example, using an analysis of Roku campaigns, Comscore tracked the performance of six campaigns spanning four major verticals, including retail, automotive, CPG, and real estate, measuring a total of 62 million ads delivered on Roku. Viewers on Roku saw these ads an average of 3.6 times per campaign amongst the target audience compared to 11.4 times on Linear TV. Co-viewing on Roku drove +37% lift across the 6 campaigns. 

Such data illustrates how advertisers and agencies to assess the incremental impact of Roku within their media plans while also understanding the co-viewing on Roku compared to other platforms, Comscore said. 

Comscore's programmatic targeting division, Proximic by Comscore, and the ad tech platform, Nexxen have released data from a new survey highlighting major trends for Holiday ad spending that shows a relatively bullish ad climate.  

The survey found that planning starts early, with 61% of marketers planning to spend the majority of their holiday budget in October and November. About three quarters (74%) of marketers finalize holiday marketing campaigns before Q4 begins with 97% finalizing holiday budgets by October. 

The Holiday Checklist: A new report from Nexxen and Proximic by Comscore also reports that total consumer digital spend continues to rise – with an increase of 21% in total spend in H1 2023 compared to H1 2022 and that the Q4 spend is likely to set new records for consumer spend.

While there remains a lot of conversation about performance metrics, attention metrics, intent and awareness metrics, at the end of the day 61% of marketers said the most important metric was still ROI, followed by sales lift at 53%, the survey fould. 

Other key findings include: 

• 86% of marketers plan to spend the same or more on holiday advertising compared to last year, while only 12% plan to decrease. 
• Ticket and event sales are now purchased primarily on mobile devices, hitting a peak of 87.6% of sales in this category coming from mobile in Q4 2022. This is likely due to the use of mobile devices as tickets such as QR codes. 
• Apparel & Accessories moved up two spots in the digital consumer spend rankings in Q4 2022 to take the #1 spot for desktop digital commerce spend and held steady as the #2 spot on mobile, slightly outranked by consumer packaged goods (baby, food, pet). Digital content & subscriptions made the largest gain in desktop consumer spend moving up 3 spots in the rankings to #6.
• Consumer spend on mobile and digital devices is on a collision course, with Q4 showing consistent peaks each year. The highest peak was in Q4 2022 when mobile spend made up for 42% of total digital spend and desktop made up 58%. Q4 2023 is expected to break that peak, indicating that a mobile advertising and ecommerce strategy is more critical than ever for holiday success. 
• Holiday shoppers tend to skew more female (+12.62% more likely to be a female vs. a male) and are more likely to be shopping for him (+19.07% more likely) and the kids (+7.34% more likely)
• Digital remains king for the holidays: 74-79% of marketers plan to incorporate digital, social and connected TV media into their holiday campaigns, whereas only 51% plan to incorporate linear TV ads 
• Competition among advertisers will be at an all-time high, resulting in an increase in advertising cost. CPMs are expected to increase significantly as we move into Q4, with last year’s CPMs for CTV up 21.88% in Q4 vs. the rest of the year and Display CPMs up 24.95% compared to Q1-Q3. 
• Holiday budgets will be split nearly evenly across programmatic and direct activations with 51% of budgets going towards direct and 49% towards programmatic
• When allocating budget across marketing tactics brand awareness will win the largest share of marketer spend this holiday season with 36.5% of total budgets, followed by new customer acquisition at 33% and existing customer retention/upsell at 30.5% - this aligns with the understanding that it costs more to capture a consumer’s attention at the top of the funnel than it does to re-engage an existing customer
• Contextual targeting’s moment has arrived as a cookie alternative - 68% of marketers plan to use contextual targeting this holiday season, compared to only 18% plan to rely on alternative identifiers 
• First party data reliance remains a clear trend – 69% plan to use retargeting from first party data and 66% plan to incorporate first party data modeling approaches 
• Customization and scale were the noted as the most important factors for marketers when collecting targeting data for holiday campaigns 
• More than half (51%) of marketers plan to use predictive targeting tactics to combat signal loss this holiday season
• A surprising 35% of marketers were planning to use new ad platforms (DMPs, DSPs, SSPs) compared to the platforms they used last year. Cost to use platform and data availability were noted as the leading factors for selecting a platform partner 

More information is available here. 

As part of the launch of AWS’ Media and Entertainment (M&E) solution area to help broadcasters and advertisers improve the monetization of content, Comscore's data sets have been integrated into the AWS solution, a development that will provide clients easier access to data and analytics, according to Joseph Delfino vice president of strategy  and business development at Comscore. 

This new initiative, announced earlier in September, will enable customers to simplify and modernize their advertising stacks, increase revenue across viewing platforms, and build direct, more personalized relationships with audiences, Delfino said in a blog post. 

The effort is designed to help advertisers deal with ongoing market challenges that include cookie deprecation, privacy regulations, signal loss, media fragmentation, and lack of data interoperability are significant obstacles for businesses to overcome. 

To help with that Comscore was recently part of the launch of AWS’ Media and Entertainment (M&E) solution area focused on monetization. 

“By leveraging AWS and its new solution, Comscore will be embedded within a technology platform that is native to many client workflows,” Delfino wrote. “This will further enable frictionless access to Comscore’s rich cross-platform dataset and provide clients with the flexibility to collaborate with Comscore and their first-party datasets in the future. The AWS M&E Monetization solution area is one of many ways in which Comscore is working with partners in the media ecosystem to frictionlessly deliver data.”

As part of a demo of the solution at IBC, Delfino said that Comscore showcased this data collaboration and the drag-and-drop UI with a no-code interface on AWS Clean Rooms. This solution lets customers access Comscore datasets, without leaving the AWS Console or writing a single line of code.

Comscore’s integration with AWS gives customers easy access to datasets in a privacy-compliant clean room setting, he added. “With this solution, Comscore is building upon several important strategic pillars in its cross-platform approach, giving publishers and broadcasters the ability to: capture, curate, and create more audience value, drive new revenue streams, and unify planning, optimization, and measurement,” he wrote. 

“We continue to build a technology ecosystem that meets customers’ needs for frictionless data distribution,” Delfino reported. “This partnership will play a significant role in Comscore’s goal to deliver cross-platform solutions to the industry.”

NEW YORK—As part of an ongoing effort to improve cross-platform measurement, OpenAP has announced that the U.S. Joint Industry Committee (JIC) has granted conditional certification to Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp. 

The companies were given the conditional certification following a rigorous RFI scoring process. As part of that process, the three companies were scored to be transactable through the JIC's first stage of analysis, with full certification anticipated to be awarded in early 2024 to those who pass the data evaluation. 

JIC and OpenAP said that the news marks an important milestone in their efforts to improve new cross-platform solutions and enable more competition in a multi-currency marketplace.

It could potentially also create more competition for Nielsen, which has long dominated the measurement business. 

The U.S. Joint Industry Committee (JIC) was created in January 2023 as a collaborative forum for both media buyers and video suppliers to work together to define a more sustainable model for long-form video measurement. Its initial charter at launch is executing a certification for new currencies and creating a harmonized streaming viewership dataset through OpenAP.

Nielsen was invited to participate in the process but declined. 

In a joint statement, the JIC said: "We applaud the efforts of all companies who leaned in with the JIC's currency certification efforts and participated in the RFI stage. Throughout the process thus far, it is clear that -- while there is still work to be done -- we are moving closer to having more currencies that are commercially ready for scalable transactions across both buyers and sellers. We look forward to continuing to work with the companies in both the next stage of the currency data evaluation process, as well as with those who will be partnering on measurement certification next year, as we thoughtfully and collaboratively work toward ushering the industry toward a modern measurement and currency ecosystem."

In announcing the conditional certifications, the JIC also described some of its recent work. 

Following the public release of the JIC's Scoring Rubric in June, a JIC subcommittee with equal representation of buyers and sellers entered a scoring process to evaluate all RFI responses from participating measurement companies. The JIC's Scoring Rubric was created to be a standardized instrument for all subcommittee members to use in scoring the RFI submissions. Companies were evaluated and graded based on the level of transactability as outlined in the rubric, with each company required to receive a score of three in all categories to receive conditional certification as a cross-platform currency. The scores were reviewed by the subcommittee on August 1, 2023, and a vote on conditional certification was taken. This vote was reviewed and approved by the full Joint Industry Committee on August 24, the JIC explained. 

The JIC said that conditional certification is granted to those who are moving forward into the data evaluation stage, with the JIC's goal of issuing full certification in early 2024. Currency certification status will be granted on a two-year term spanning the calendar year. Companies will be up for recertification every two years and will be subject to further audit and evaluation within that window to maintain full certification status. Companies who receive and maintain full certification status will be granted access to the JIC Streaming Data Service set to launch in beta next year.

In addition to the currency certification program underway, the JIC will introduce a new measurement certification track in 2024 to bring additional standards and enable further innovation in cross-platform measurement solutions. This effort will complement the currency certification.

RESTON, Va.—The streaming industry has officially passed a notable milestone with the number of people in the U.S. adopting ad-supported streaming services surpassing those who use streaming services without ads, according to Comscore. 

The new Comscore 7th annual State of Streaming report also shows shows a 21% increase in the number of CTV hours per household watched, rising almost 2 billion year-over-year in 2023, up from 9.6 billion to 11.5 billion (May '22-May '23) with ad supported services capturing the bulk of new viewing.

The streaming landscape was dominated for many years by services like Netflix and Disney+ that did not offer advertising, a trend that raised serious concerns for the future of advertising. In recent years, however, major players have been focused on new ad-supported offerings and consumers have followed, with the Comscore study showing that adoption of ad-supported services have grown by 17% in the last two years versus a 9% growth in SVOD services without ads. 

"While the top US streaming services are keeping up with the demand for subscriptions, new growth can be observed in FAST streaming platforms like Roku, Pluto and Tubi which are increasingly consolidating their position in the household mix," said James Muldrow, vice president, product management, Comscore. "At the same time, cable/satellite subscribers remain some of the most engaged users in the streaming landscape. With three cable/satellite providers in the Top 10 ranking of video services based on hours watched per household, these findings highlight the success of these providers in offering advertisers consistently engaged streaming audiences."

The 2023 State of Streaming report examines the current state of streaming adoption, growth trends and services, to help brands and advertisers improve their reach and targeting, Comscore said. 

Another major trend highlighted by the Comscore study is the growth of what might be called a longer-tail of streaming. While there is growth across the board, 75% of new hours were captured by providers beyond the top six apps—Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max/MAX and Disney+—as FAST and Targeted Programming consumption accelerates, the researchers said. 

According to the analysis, the streaming audience size also continues to grow, up to 73% (YoY) from 69% in 2022, Comscore said. 

Additional findings include:

• Digital video is accelerating its growth: Hours watched on connected devices have risen 20% year-over-year with 81% of WiFi households now streaming on CTV.
• US households are adopting ad-supported streaming services at a faster rate: CTV households streaming ad-supported streaming services reached 83.7M, a 17% increase (from 2021-2023), while households streaming non-ad-supported services reached 81.1M, a 9% increase.
• Consumption of Targeted programming on FAST/Advertising-based Video on Demand services is accelerating: Hispanic households consume nearly twice as many hours of FAST content, increasing 81% year-on-year.
• Linear programming is evolving within the digital landscape: On the measure of content performance, 3 linear streaming providers are included in the Top 10 video services (MVPD streaming) on hours viewed per HH.
• Cord Cutters have eclipsed traditional TV subscribers: As of May 2023, 60% of CTV households are now cordless, compared to just 37% in May 2019.
• Smart TVs are the dominant force for CTV streaming: Total households that stream content via Smart TVs increased 23% from May 2021, followed by gaming consoles at 18%.

The 2023 State of Streaming findings will be presented during a live webinar at 2pm ET on August 29, 2023. To register, visit: https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Events-and-Webinars/Webinar/2023/2023-State-of-Streaming

NEW YORK—Proximic by Comscore has announced new and expanded integrations with Adobe, Publica and Teads that have boosted the reach of its Predictive Audience segments to the point where they are now being used by more than 5,000 advertiser clients.

"We’re already seeing such strong adoption of Predictive Audiences because the product is delivering," said Rachel Gantz, managing director of Proximic by Comscore. “Proximic by Comscore’s Predictive Audiences are outperforming legacy data sets and giving brands the incrementality they need for growth. These new partnerships allow us to continue expanding reach for advertisers no matter which programmatic platform they choose to use.” 

The new and expanded partnerships provide access to Proximic by Comscore’s ID-free segments including Predictive Audiences, Proximic demographics and keyword targeting in even more places where digital media is bought and sold. 

“Having access to future-proofed, signal loss resilient targeting tactics like Proximic by Comscore’s Predictive Audiences is critical to build a sustainable strategy today that will continue to deliver business outcomes.” said Alex Reeder, vice president of data innovation and research, Havas Media, which is a client of the product. ”If we can achieve superior performance without the use of IDs, it’s a win-win.”

For media buyers looking to leverage Proximic by Comscore’s segments, the integration with Teads introduces ID-less CTV targeting capabilities. By utilizing Proximic's Predictive Audiences and ID-free demographic segments, media buyers can efficiently target their ideal consumers on CTV platforms, ensuring relevant and effective ads are delivered to the biggest screen in a consumer’s home.

Recognizing the importance of supporting media sellers, Proximic by Comscore has also established a new partnership with CTV ad server Publica. This collaboration enables Proximic by Comscore’s Predictive Audience data to be seamlessly integrated into Publica's CTV ad server, streamlining the process for publishers looking to access ID-free audience data at scale to enhance monetization of their inventory, the companies said. 

Additionally, Proximic by Comscore has extended its integrations with leading demand side platform Adobe Advertising. These integrations enable media buyers to access Proximic by Comscore’s Predictive Audiences directly via Adobe’s suite of targeting solutions. 

RESTON, Va.—In a major shift in how local stations measure and sell local advertising, Comscore has announced that NBCUniversal will be, for the first time, guaranteeing all local ad buys on Comscore measurement.

The expanded partnership will support the transactional currency local advertisers will negotiate for inventory with NBCUniversal across its 31 local markets, plus 42 NBCU- and Telemundo-owned stations, the two companies said. 

Traditionally local ad buys had been guaranteed by local audience data from Nielsen. 

NBCUniversal certified Comscore as a local currency partner in 2022 and the expansion to guaranteeing and transacting on Comscore builds several improvements in Comscore’s measurement systems, Comscore said. 

Those include: Comscore’s successful efforts to have its Advanced Audiences data and insights flow through the third party media management platforms like WideOrbit, Mediaocean and FreeWheel; its industry-first delivery of 48-hour post air-date reporting in all 210 markets; submission to the MRC (Media Rating Council) for local and national accreditation; and the committed delivery of its patent-pending personification methodology. 

The expanded partnership with NBCUniversal also builds on other local market currency agreements from Comscore including partners such as MAGNA.

Collectively, these moves signal a major shift in local market measurement, the two companies said. 

"Local television in many ways reflects the local community, both the people and the businesses. With local advertising, it's critical for marketers to be able to count audiences who accurately reflect the market at scale," said Frank Comerford, chief revenue officer and president of local sales, NBCUniversal. "We're excited about our expanded partnership with Comscore, which will enable marketers to use near census-level data in real time, helping them understand, reach, and accurately measure their most valuable audiences." 

"Our near census-level data and fast 48-hour delivery, coupled with our advanced audience tools, are helping clients like NBCUniversal and their advertising partners maximize the opportunity to engage with audiences across local markets. We are honored by the trust NBCUniversal has placed in Comscore as they head into two of their biggest revenue drivers for local stations, the Paris Summer Olympics and the 2024 political season," said Jon Carpenter, CEO at Comscore.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced an agreement with WBNX-TV, an independent station focused on serving the Cleveland and Akron communities, that will see WBNX use Comscore's local TV currency as an additional source to sell and post advertising buys.

"Comscore's local measurement provides WBNX and our advertisers the ability to see the true viewing behaviors from our community," said Lori Bruch, WBNX general manager. "With Comscore's consistent and reliable data set, we are confident that we will be able to attract more advertisers and that we will be able to showcase our audience strengths like never before."

The agreement comes in the wake of Comscore’s recently announced expansion of its "Pulse" TV measurement solution, which provides agencies, brands and media companies with 48-hour TV measurement nationally and in all 210 U.S. local media markets. 

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced an expanded relationship with Magna, the  investment and intelligence company of IPG Mediabrands, that will see Magna use Comscore’s local television ratings data to inform TV buys across the organization. 

This agreement comes in the wake of IPG’s previous announcement that it will assess alternative national television currencies. Comscore is the only alternative ratings service  that will be utilized for local television, the companies said. 

“At Magna, our continued ability to excel at data-driven planning and buying requires the adoption of  new datasets, including those that support key initiatives such as shifting towards high value audiences  that are proven to be effective in influencing consumer behaviors,” said Joe Cerone, executive vice president of local investment at Magna. “Comscore’s massive, stable dataset supports the innovation we hope to bring to  our local planning and buying efforts in the coming years, and we are excited to join them at the forefront  of this critical turning point in local television.”  

Beginning in Q2 of 2023, Magna’s local television planning and buying teams will be able to tap into  Comscore’s local TV impressions and ratings data, adding an additional layer of precision to planning and  buying efforts in all 210 local markets, the companies reported. 

Magna and Comscore also plan to incorporate advanced audiences into local media buys via the  Comscore television dataset, enabling local buying to be conducted on more efficient and effective audience types.  

“The evolution of the Comscore/Magna partnership is a testament to Comscore’s leadership position in  TV data and measurement, and Magna’s continued commitment to being at the forefront of media  investment,” said Jon Carpenter, CEO, Comscore. “To innovate for the future, media  buyers require stable, transaction ready datasets and are turning increasingly to Comscore for inclusive,  data-driven media buying and targeting efforts.” 

An established leader in local TV measurement, the expanded partnership comes as Comscore recently announced the expansion of its “Pulse” solution, which delivers greater speed, transparency and confidence to those planning, buying and evaluating media at the national and local levels across any or  all 210 local U.S. media markets. 

Available via Comscore's product offering, API feed and third-party  processors, Pulse offers the enhanced ability to optimize campaigns with data that provides more than  90% predictability. 

NEW YORK—As programmers continue to push for better measurement tools, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that the company will work with Comscore and VideoAmp to enable alternative currencies during this year’s Upfront. 

The agreement means that national advertising clients and partners will have the option of using data from these providers as alternative currencies when putting together ad deals for Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear content for the 2023-2024 Upfront season 

Warner Bros. Discovery will also work with Comscore and VideoAmp to enhance cross-platform measurement and enable new capabilities for clients to transact against advanced audience targets. 

“Optionality has always been a key part of our approach to measurement and currency, and we are excited to operationalize against multiple currencies at scale and unlock more value for our partners this Upfront season,” said Andrea Zapata, executive vice president, head of ad sales research, measurement and insights at Warner Bros. Discovery. “We have full confidence in Comscore and VideoAmp to help us execute our vision around currency, and we’re excited to leverage these innovative and effective solutions as we as an industry move away from a single-source currency.” 

In announcing the move, Warner Bros. Discovery said it is committed to developing a more expansive portfolio of measurement and currency solutions that further demonstrate the value and outcomes of its award-winning storytelling, offering advertisers the confidence and trust needed to thrive in today’s fragmented landscape. 

“Comscore is proud to expand our long-standing partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery as they continue to innovate across linear and cross-platform audience measurement solutions for their advertising clients,” said Jon Carpenter, CEO at Comscore. “We are excited to be working together to power marketplace demand for greater transparency, consistency and interoperability. Today's consumer has more choice than ever before when making their buying and viewing decisions, and we applaud Warner Bros. Discovery for leading the charge to bring choice in media measurement to their brand and agency partners.” 

“We are thrilled to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery as a currency provider, especially as they head into the Upfront season,” said Michael Parkes, president of VideoAmp. “The industry is in need of better audience measurement and transactional capabilities. By teaming up with such an iconic company with massive reach and engaged audiences, we're committed to providing advertisers with greater visibility into the true value of both the breadth and depth of the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio. We look forward to collaborating with them to drive meaningful impact and deliver measurable results.” 

These newly expanded currency options will also be available with Warner Bros. Discovery's advanced data-driven linear solution. 

The agreement builds on previous work by the company to improve measurement. Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery developed a first-of-its kind test-and-learn for evaluating third-party measurement providers. The assessment thoroughly reviewed potential partners across five key areas: methodology, reporting, activation, stewardship and campaign findings.  

NEW YORK—Comscore has launched a dedicated programmatic targeting business, Proximic by Comscore. The new division will offer a suite of ID-based and advanced contextual targeting solutions accessible via integrations with leading ad platform partners such as Basis Technologies, LiveRamp, SXM Media’s AdsWizz, Xandr’s Invest DSP, Yahoo! and others.

“We’ve always been dedicated to using our data and AI to empower marketers to effectively reach consumers and publishers to access privacy-forward monetization tactics. This new chapter marks an even bigger stage for us to showcase our strengths,” said Rachel Gantz, managing director, Proximic by Comscore. “As traditional targeting signals have rapidly declined, the addressability gap has widened, leaving advertisers looking for new cost effective tactics to hit reach goals. We are excited to be able to leverage the best data in the industry with innovative technologies to maximize the impact of programmatic campaigns.”

The launch is built on Comscore’s 2015 acquisition of Proximic, a company focused on contextual capabilities. Since that acquisition, Comscore has expanded on this technology to provide thousands of clients with real-time audience and content targeting segments, including their first-to-market Predictive Audiences to help reach consumers at scale through programmatic channels. 

“The need in the marketplace for innovative, holistic targeting solutions that address the full bidstream, with and without IDs, has never been greater. Proximic by Comscore is not just about future-proofing, they’re raising the bar for what brands can expect from the performance of campaign targeting today,” said Steve Bagdasarian, executive vice president of growth, Comscore. “Given Proximic by Comscore’s market-leading targeting capabilities, it is important to invest in the brand to meet the needs of today’s programmatic environment.”

More information is available at www.proximic.com.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore is reporting that U.S. online retail sales hit a record-breaking milestone in 2022, with digital commerce exceeding $1 trillion in online retail consumer spend for the first time in history. This reflects a 21% increase in spend year-over-year (YoY).

The milestone further documents the rapid growth that online retailers have seen in recent years and highlights concerns about brick and mortar retail outlets that have long been the backbone of advertising for local broadcasters. 

Comscore’s 2023 State of Digital Commerce Report, which analyzed online retail purchases across desktop and mobile devices, found that online retail purchases, excluding travel, hit $1.09 trillion in 2022, with $332.2 billion in online sales occurring Q4 of 2022, up from $260.0 billion in Q3 2022 and $281.3 billion a year earlier in Q4 of 2021. 

In Q4, the biggest spending quarter of the year, dollars spent on mobile devices in the U.S. also grew at a higher rate than on desktop devices, 26% vs 14%, with mobile’s share of total digital commerce reaching nearly 40%.

“At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, digital commerce was at $705.4 billion,” said Comscore’s Ian Essling, senior director of survey insights, Comscore. “A year later, it hit $904.3 billion, and this year we’re over $1 trillion. That level of growth previously took four years to achieve. Consumers are clearly doubling down on what works best for them--seamless, convenient, online purchasing across many different verticals and product types.”

Other highlights of Comscore’s State of Digital Commerce report include: 

• Online retail spending during the 2022 holiday season (Nov+Dec) broke $230 billion and grew by 20% YoY.
• Online grocery and apparel were the top spending categories, with $219 billion spent on ‘Grocery, Baby, Pet’ items, $175 billion on ‘Apparel and Accessories’ and $117 billion on ‘Computers and Peripherals’.
• The top growing digital commerce categories YoY were ‘Event Tickets’ (75%), ‘Digital Content’ (60%) and ‘Apparel and Accessories’ (37%).

 The full report is available here.  

PHOENIX, Ariz.—AZTV7 (KAZT-TV), the only locally owned and operated broadcast station in the Phoenix market, and its family of channels, has inked an agreement with Comscore to use Comscore’s local TV currency as the primary measurement source to sell and post advertising buys. 

With Comscore’s database of 340,000+ homes in the Phoenix market, KAZT said the deal will allow it to offer advertisers greater stability in its measurement, granular reporting down to the quarter hour and more accurate data. 

“Based on the growing agency demand in the Phoenix market for Comscore’s currency, we decided to partner with Comscore,” said KAZT general manager Rick Soltesz. “This robust data set will allow us to not only highlight the size of our audience but also the quality to advertisers looking to reach Phoenix viewers.”

Comscore joins the KAZT portfolio of other research resources including Marshall Marketing, Scarborough, WideOrbit, Cox Reps Television Analytics and others, the station reported. 

“Partnering with Comscore to utilize its local TV currency is an important step for KAZT,” station owner Lynn Londen, CEO of Londen Media added. “We need to keep pace with the fast-changing viewer and it’s clear that Comscore can help us do that through its delivery of next-generation research that has already been adopted by television selling and buying communities in Phoenix and nationally.”

NEW YORK—Comscore has announced that Dentsu will shift local TV buying to a Comscore-based currency that supports transactions in all 210 local markets.

The agreement means that Dentsu will be the first agency network to place buys in local markets using Comscore’s advanced audiences. Dentsu will use the local TV measurement across its three US media agencies, Carat, Dentsu X, and iProspect, which will add a new addressable solution to the agency network’s toolkit. 

The move signals a significant shift for the local media industry as it seeks to utilize the same data-driven techniques that have been long employed by national buyers, Comscore said. 

Comscore and Dentsu will conduct test buys on behalf of two clients in top 10 local markets based on impressions delivered to advanced audiences built in Dentsu’s proprietary audience-building platform M1, with buys planned to go live in early 2023, the companies reported. 

The partnership will expand to additional markets throughout next year. All major broadcast stations in the markets and local cable inventory will also participate in these buys.

“At Dentsu we pride ourselves on knowing people better than anyone else and have been at the forefront of unlocking new ways to create addressable, audience-first solutions across media environments. For too long, our local TV buyers have been unable to reap the benefits of advances in data driven buying,” said Jennifer Hungerbuhler, executive vice president local and audio investment at Dentsu Media US. “As we look to what’s next in media, the scale and stability of Comscore’s local TV dataset, coupled with the power of Dentsu’s M1 audience intelligence platform, enable new opportunities for us to precisely transact on the audiences that matter most to our clients and drive value in every market.”

This partnership follows a previous announcement that the companies were expanding their long standing partnership and adding the ability to utilize Dentsu’s M1 advanced audiences within Comscore’s local planning and buying datasets, Comscore reported. 

It also represents the culmination of a two year proof of concept phase led by Comscore’s agency and brand leadership team helmed by Kathryn Roganti, senior vice president commercial at Comscore, and Karine McMaster, vice president advanced media, local investment at Dentsu Media US.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that the Fox Television Stations (FTS) will use Comscore’s data to  support transactions on advanced audiences across the footprint of the owned and operated station group. 

“Over the last six years, the number of reportable Comscore households across Fox Television Station’s markets have grown by 84% to 13.6 MM [million] homes,” said Tom Fleming, senior vice president of station sales at Fox Television Stations. “By partnering with Comscore for local TV measurement, FTS can now use significantly larger data sets and even more precision to ensure that linear advertisers are strategically paired with their consumers.”

Comscore competes with Nielsen in measuring viewing and in recent years has been picking up clients among local broadcasters.

Comscore local TV solution combines real-world TV viewership information with advanced household-level consumer and demographic behavior data, allowing buyers and sellers to access relevant metrics and transact with confidence, Comscore said. 

“Because local television audiences have more choices than ever, measurement must evolve to include larger data sets,“ said Chad Roscher, vice president, research, Fox Television Stations. “As such, Fox Television Stations is excited to partner with Comscore for local TV measurement, which incorporates millions of data points from key video providers.”

“Comscore has a long history of innovating the way media is bought and sold, and we are proud to partner with FTS to bring increased value to their expansive footprint,” said Carol Hinnant, chief revenue officer, Comscore. “FTS is getting ahead of the pack to ensure their advertisers have access to the most advanced offerings that local TV can provide.”

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has signed a multi-year agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group to deploy its Comscore Consumer Intelligence (CCI) offering across its sales organization.

Comscore Consumer Intelligence unifies Comscore’s local linear and digital search data with near real-time shopper insights from Consumer Orbit, a consumer science company specializing in understanding consumers and their shopping behaviors, across all local markets down to the ZIP-code level.

The integration of the data will enable the Sinclair Broadcast Group to reach real-world customers and qualified prospects effectively and efficiently through consumer-based selling, the companies said. 

CCI delivers a cross-platform comparison of local television and digital audience consumption, allowing both sell- and buy-side clients to match impressions delivered by linear and digital partners with actual customers and consumers in their pre-purchase shopping cycle, Comscore said. 

Through a better understanding of the relative audience delivery effectiveness of linear television compared to social media or digital entertainment content in local markets, station sales teams can realize greater positioning and sales strategy effectiveness, Comscore said. 

CCI’s shopping intelligence data is updated monthly and based on latent, observed and deterministically collected consumer engagements, not small samples of self-reported behavior. CCI allows users to define custom geography, or trade areas, to better align business opportunity measures with linear and digital audience activity.

“CCI provides information that unifies audiences across platforms so that a single definition of the customer can be presented to our clients, rather than mixed targets across multiple silos,” says Jay Huckabay, president and CEO of Consumer Orbit. “This will drive both efficiency and effectiveness in advertising, yielding more successful results for both the buy and sell side.”

“Comscore has supplemented its local television currency with a consumer-focused, rather than demographic focused offering that provides in-market consumer shopping behavior. This allows television to more effectively compete with digital giants that have siphoned media dollars from television,” says Carol Hinnant, chief revenue officer, Comscore. “We are excited to be partnered with Consumer Orbit to bring this innovated offering to market.”

RESTON, Va.—Comscore’s board of directors announced the appointment of Jon Carpenter as chief executive officer. Having served as the company’s chief financial officer since November 2021, he replaces current CEO and executive vice chairman Bill Livek, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

Comscore also announced that Dr. Nana Banerjee, who has served as a director on Comscore’s board since March 2021, has been designated non-executive chairman of the board. Brent Rosenthal, who has served as chairman since 2018, will continue to serve as lead director. Mary Margaret Curry, who currently serves as the company’s chief accounting officer, has been promoted to chief financial officer and treasurer.

Carpenter’s experience in the media and measurement industry includes senior operational and financial leadership roles at NBC Universal, Nielsen and at Publisher’s Clearing House (PCH), where in addition to serving as that company’s CFO, he also had operating responsibility for growing and accelerating its digital advertising business organically and through strategic acquisitions.

In a press statement, Dr. Banerjee said, "Jon’s strong operational focus, strategic acumen and experience driving both growth and profitability are exactly what we need for Comscore’s next chapter. In addition to his background in finance, as well as in media and measurement sectors, Jon brings a customer-centric ethos."

"I am honored to step into this role,” said Carpenter, “and excited about the opportunity that’s ahead for Comscore. The marketplaces in which we operate are changing rapidly, but with Comscore’s rich history of delivering measurement solutions, coupled with the talent of our team, I am enthusiastic and confident in our ability to deliver the innovative products and solutions our customers need and want."

Banerjee brings expertise in data analytics and information services sectors, and experience in transforming global businesses with his prior roles at McGraw-Hill, Verisk Analytics, Argus Information and Advisory Services, Citibank and GE Capital.

Curry joined Comscore in 2011 as global tax director and has since served in roles of increasing responsibility, including as senior director of global tax compliance and reporting, vice president of tax and treasury and senior vice president and controller. Before joining the company, she spent nine years with KPMG.

NEW YORK—New research from Comscore is highlighting a long-overlooked trend, namely the important role that diverse audiences from the African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American communities are playing in driving rapid growth in streaming and OTT video consumption. 

New Comscore data shows that those diverse audiences accounted for 41% of the U.S. homes viewing OTT content on connected TV devices, making them “a huge force and key driver of overall streaming growth,” the report concludes.

The researchers also stressed that “diverse segments adoption of streaming content is outpacing the average, especially among African-American, Hispanic, and American Indians.”

The data is particularly notable given the long-standing difficulties many members of those communities have in getting access to high-speed broadband and other digital services. 

Comscore used data from March 2019 to March 2022 to analyze the impact of diverse audiences on OTT viewing.  

During this time period, African American OTT households increased 35%, Hispanic OTT homes increased 41%, Asian OTT homes increased 69%, and American Indian OTT homes increased 66%. 

Diverse audiences also increased their share of WiFi homes watching OTT from 24.7 million homes (39% of all OTT homes) in 2019 to 34.6 million (41% of all OTT homes in the U.S.) in March of 2022.

When it comes to OTT hours watched per household, African Americans saw a 66% increase between March 2019 and March 2022, and American Indians increased their OTT viewing by 88% during this time period, much faster growth than the 34% increase in OTT viewing for the whole of the U.S.

In March 2022, African Americans watched 163 hours of OTT content versus 122 hours for the nation as a whole, while Hispanic households viewed 133 hours.

In terms of streaming services African-American households are using 6.3 streaming services—more than the national average of 5.4 services—and Hispanic households are using slightly above average at 5.6 services. Asian households under indexed the national average, however, with 4.9 services.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore and Standard Media Index have launched what they are calling "the industry’s first advanced eCPM metric for linear TV advertising."

The eCPM metric combines census-based pricing data from SMI with census-based viewing data from Comscore to create estimated CPM-based pricing metrics for more effective inventory and investment strategy across all media. The solution is available through the Comscore eCPM module  hosted on the HiveMensio  platform. 

“We’re excited to partner with SMI to accelerate the transparency of metrics related to ad spend associated with every quarter hour of TV viewing across the most comprehensive set of advanced audiences,” said David Algranati, chief product officer, Comscore. “As consumer viewing behavior continues to rapidly evolve, eCPMs unified metric will provide both the buy side and sell side a greater understanding of the competitive marketplace.”

“As the industry transitions to a more impressions-based currency, it’s essential for buyers and sellers to be armed with complete and accurate CPM-based pricing metrics for linear TV across all publishers, day-parts, programs and target audiences,”says Ben Tatta, president, SMI. “This new eCPM solution goes far beyond age and gender to provide effective rates for linear TV for more than 100 advanced audiences. This data can be used for cross-screen planning, audience-based targeting and advanced measurement with the ability to benchmark linear TV rates on an apples-to-apples basis with digital, CTV and OTT.”

RESTON, Va.—Comscore and WideOrbit have announced that they’ve expanded their longstanding partnership to automate linear TV buying and selling and that WideOrbit is introducing Comscore TV information to power automated TV transactions and audience targeting across markets and demographics.   

The partnership facilitates the automated buying and selling of advertising inventory from more than 1700 local TV stations across 210 Local Markets, allowing advertisers to reach a specific number of impressions in a market and/or daypart rather than make specific program buys, the companies said. 

Through the agreement, more than 65 agencies, brands, and DSPs will have access to inventory offered through WideOrbit’s sell-side platform, WO Marketplace, powered by Comscore TV information from over 50 million homes. More than 96% of US television households are available to reach via this platform.

“The growing demand for automated buying and selling of linear TV highlights the critical importance of offering advertisers timely, relevant data to target audiences across markets and demographics,” said Eric Mathewson, WideOrbit founder and CEO. “Our partnership with Comscore allows us to provide the data advertisers need for effective targeting, combined with the ease of execution, waste reduction, brand safety, and rate transparency they’ve come to expect from WideOrbit marketplace transactions.” 

WO Marketplace helps local TV stations open new revenue streams with automated access to new demand. By bringing sellers new demand that can be evaluated alongside current sold inventory, broadcasters can accept only the offers that best meet their needs.

"The industry has been asking for better automation of TV buying and selling to harness the power of broadcast TV, which remains one of the most effective ways to reach large numbers of consumers,” said Bill Livek, CEO and executive vice chair, Comscore. “We are proud to deepen our longstanding partnership with WideOrbit to help advertisers more efficiently reach audiences across specific markets and demographics.”

WideOrbit is the system of record for more than $37 billion in advertising spend annually and is used by such companies as NBCUniversal, Fox, ViacomCBS, AMC Networks, Univision, Gray, and Sinclair.

NEW YORK—DoubleVerify and Comscore have announced that they will be working together to develop an integrated media quality verification and audience measurement solution to allow advertisers to seamlessly measure the impact of their full media plan.

DV and Comscore plan to launch the joint offering as early as the second quarter of 2022 for a select group of customers.

The new measurement solution will combine data from the DV Authentic Ad, a proprietary, MRC-accredited metric that verifies ads are fully viewed, by a real person, in a brand-suitable environment within the intended geography, with Comscore Campaign Ratings, Comscore’s cross-platform audience measurement solution. 

Combining the power of the DV Authentic Ad™ and Comscore’s 15 years of measuring audiences across screens will allow advertisers to view campaign results across platforms, knowing the audiences were free of invalid traffic, delivered in-view and to the right geography and brand environment, the companies said. 

“Measuring advertising reach is increasingly confronted by questions of veracity in the digital world,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO, DoubleVerify. “Digital fraud, conflicted verification solutions and growing identifier friction are challenging traditional measurement. In partnering with Comscore, we are addressing the issue head on – developing an industry-first measurement solution that combines media quality verification data with audience data to help advertisers maximize campaign performance and drive real business outcomes.”

“The industry is simultaneously facing three key megatrends: the search for more accurate deduplicated audience measurement, the mainstream emergence of streaming, and evolving privacy standards,” said Bill Livek, CEO, Comscore. “By partnering with DoubleVerify and pairing Comscore Campaign Ratings with their media quality verification data, we can better support the industry with this unique product, and help brands and agencies maximize media quality and performance within their campaigns.”

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that it has renewed an expanded agreement with Gray Television to provide the station group with a full suite of Comscore's local market currency tools, including Comscore's Advanced Automotive Demographics segments.

With the new deal, Gray TV will be using Comscore's audience data as its primary selling currency across 199 stations in 96 markets including its largest, Atlanta, and will serve as Gray's exclusive currency in 95 of those markets.

"Gray Television has been a terrific partner of Comscore's for many years, and we are very excited to once again renew and expand our commitment to each other," said Carol Hinnant, chief revenue officer, Comscore. "Comscore's local measurement service provides Gray and all of our clients with the audience insights made possible by our industry-leading and currency-quality measurement footprint of over 30 million homes across the U.S."

RESTON, Va.—The competition to offer better measurement of audiences and ads across multiple platforms, has gotten even hotter with Comscore introducing its Comscore Everywhere single-source unified cross-platform measurement solution. 

“Consumers don't think in terms of linear versus streaming versus digital—they think of content,” said David Algranati, Chief Product Officer, Comscore. “Measurement must reflect that reality, and with today’s launch, Comscore is the only measurement company with the experience, scale, technology, combined with unique big data assets, innovative methodologies, and best-in-class services to deliver on the future of cross-platform media measurement.”

The launch comes at a time when many media companies have been complaining about the accuracy of current measurement systems and a number of industry organizations have joined together to find alternatives. 

It also puts Comscore in even more direct competition with Nielsen for the title of being the dominant player in cross-media measurement for TV, connected TVs, streaming and other platforms. Recently, Nielsen unveiled a prototype of its long-awaited Nielsen One cross platform solution, with the formal launch in Q4, 2022. 

Looking forward, Comscore said that it is working closely with its buy-side and sell-side partners to refine the methodology for combining television, connected TV, digital and social media assets into one offering – enabling reach and frequency planning with advanced audience capabilities.

“As the fragmentation of consumer media consumption habits accelerates, the need for a holistic audience intelligence platform is more urgent than ever,” said Bill Livek, CEO and executive vice chair, Comscore. “With the launch of Comscore Everywhere, we have taken the lead on providing the currency of the future.”

More information is available here. 

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that it has acquired Shareablee, a major marketing analytics and measurement company in the social media space. 

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

The deal, which closed on December 16, 2021, will allow Comscore to expand its Media Metrix and Video Metrix currencies to include Shareablee's social media engagement and video insights. 

This will help bridge the industry gap of traditional digital and social measurement services that exists today, Comscore said, and provide improved cross platform insights. 

“Comscore is committed to the future and helping customers have a comprehensive view of the consumer across platforms, while understanding the unique engagement on premium video. The future of measurement would not be complete without including the impressions delivered by the social media platforms,” said Bill Livek, CEO and Executive Vice Chair, Comscore. “For marketers, this inclusion into our currencies will present a great opportunity to maximize their outcomes on advertising investments. We see many opportunities to help our clients grow their viewing audiences and maximize their impact using social platforms.”

The combined audience insights of Comscore and Shareablee will give media companies, brands and advertisers a better understanding of cross-platform consumer engagement and reach, Comscore said. 

Integration plans call for Comscore digital products to benefit from Shareablee data, allowing clients to broaden their digital footprint in products like Video Metrix with advanced social video insights, and for Shareablee clients to have additional advantages with curated views of Comscore digital data embedded in their Shareablee dashboards, Comscore said.

Comscore plans to retain the Shareablee team after closing, with key members of Shareablee management, including Tania Yuki, Greg Dale and Jonathan Lieberman, continuing in leadership roles.

“At our core, we believe that content matters, and that data and insights can make storytelling more impactful. We are thrilled to join forces with Comscore and look forward to finding new ways to jointly drive innovation,” said Tania Yuki, CEO and Founder of Shareablee. “Our large-scale social measurement capabilities provide critical insight into changing content consumption and consumer behaviors, particularly when it comes to shedding light on Gen Z, and fit perfectly alongside Comscore’s comprehensive cross-platform intelligence. Bringing the resources and measurement sophistication of Comscore to our product development capabilities will be very exciting for the whole market.”

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that Brian Pugh has been promoted to chief information officer. 

Pugh joined Comscore in 2007 and has held executive level positions at the company across data science, analytics, and product technology. 

In the new role he will be responsible for launching cost effective technology solutions that increase innovation and productivity; for ensuring that Comscore data is secure; and ensuring that Comscore services are accredited for ISO security standards and by industry organizations like the Media Rating Council, the company said. 

Comscore noted that Pugh has been a key thought leader and visionary for Comscore's digital solutions, including for the evolution of digital media measurement by enhancing traditional panel measurement with census measurement. 

During Pugh's tenure, he has also been a guiding force behind some notable product launches, including the launches of Comscore Media Metrix Multi-Platform, Comscore Validated Campaign Essentials and Comscore's Activation solutions. 

In innovating new products and features, Pugh has contributed to four patents related to digital measurement. 

Pugh was also instrumental in successfully concluding the Media Rating Council audits of Media Metrix and Validated Campaign Essentials, both products of which received accreditation under his leadership, Comscore said. 

Pugh is currently involved in the Comscore TV MRC audit that began in October 2021 and Pugh led the successful effort to secure ISO 27001 certification for Comscore in 2021.

"Brian's product vision has been at the heart of our product roadmap and success for nearly 15 years, and I am excited to have him take on an even more significant role in shaping the future of our company," said David Algranati, chief product officer, Comscore.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that American Spirit Media has renewed Comscore's Local currency services across its eight television markets.

With this new agreement, Comscore will be providing currency measurement data and services, including Comscore's Advanced Automotive and Political segments, to all of ASM's television stations, which are located in Toledo Ohio, Jackson Miss., Columbus Ga., Wichita Falls and Lawton Texas/Okla., Lake Charles La., and Wilmington N.C.

"American Spirit Media embodies innovation and leadership in all facets of our business, but nowhere more than in our sales organizations," said Tom Henson, ASM's president and CEO.  "With Comscore's audience insights, we are empowered to sell our inventory with the confidence that we can deliver on our audience delivery commitments to advertisers – Comscore data allow us to deliver what we sell."

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that it is the first measurement provider to deliver deduplicated audience measurement across YouTube's largest platforms (PC, Mobile, and now Connected TV) as well as co-viewers of Connected TV screens. 

The move marks a significant expansion of Comscore's partnership with Google that was announced in August. 

The addition of YouTube and YouTube TV into Comscore Campaign Ratings (CCR) went live on October 12, the company said.

"The industry has been clamoring for deduplicated cross-platform measurement. I am excited that we are the first to include Google's YouTube and YouTubeTV inventory in our CCR solution," said Bill Livek, CEO, Comscore. "With this expansion of our partnership, Comscore has the most complete view of one of the largest national and global sources of ad supported content. This addition is a game changer as it greatly improves brands' and agencies' ability to plan and measure deduplicated reach and frequency of their campaigns."

The move was applauded by some agencies. 

"Consumer viewing of collective video advertising across linear TV and CTV continues to grow, and as part of that trend, YouTube and YouTubeTV now represent one of the largest national and global sources of ad supported content," said Elizabeth Daly, vice president group media director, video investment at Mediahub Worldwide, an Interpublic Group agency. "As the industry navigates unprecedented scrutiny of measurement accuracy and stability, it's critical to have reliable deduplicated cross-platform measurement. We believe this partnership will help give advertisers much-needed clarity and a more complete view of their overall advertising effectiveness."

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced that it has signed a new agreement with Cornerstone Media Group (CMG), a leading direct response television player, for local television measurement. 

Under the terms of the agreement, CMG will be expanding its offering to the local market space and will exclusively use Comscore's local TV ratings currency data across all 210 local media markets.

"Cornerstone Media Group has always prided itself on our smart placement of spots and infomercials, which leads to quality inquiries and optimized conversions," said Don Epstein, managing director of the Cornerstone Media Group. "We understand the need to be sensitive to the changes in the marketplace affecting both advertisers and media outlets. The truth is that the video advertising business has evolved from measuring eyeballs to measuring results, which is what direct response television is all about. By adding Comscore's local TV ratings information, we will now be able to deliver better service to our advertising and agency partners to place their advertisements with our local media partners."

More information is available at www.cornerstonemediagroup.com.

RESTON, Va.—Comscore and ViacomCBS are renewing the deal that provides Comscore’s National TV measurement currency for the ViacomCBS portfolio of news, entertainment and sports networks.

Comscore originally began providing its services to ViacomCBS in 2014. The new deal offers an expansion of services beyond advanced advertising. Now, ViacomCBS can guarantee its traditional linear advertising campaigns on Comscore National TV currency, according to Comscore.

ViacomCBS says that it is looking to diversify its partnerships around measurement across its linear and digital assets.

“We believe Comscore can drive significant value for ViacomCBS, helping us achieve our goals around cross-screen measurement, while supporting our efforts toward a diversified currency strategy,” said John Halley, chief operating officer of Advertising Revenue at ViacomCBS.

For more information, visit www.comscore.com.  

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has finalized a deal with Dish Media that will extend its data license to Sling TV. The deal covers cross-platform measurement of advanced advertising and content via Comscore TV products.

Comscore claims that the deal will help accelerate the industry shift to census-based audience measurement across linear and OTT programming by using de-identified viewership data from Dish set-top boxes and Sling TV. It also says that it is the first independent measurement service to be awarded rights to measure National Addressable on Dish and Sling TV footprints.

As part of the deal, Comscore will also provide Dynamic ad insertion measurement of addressable advertising on Dish video on demand content on set-top boxes, Dish Anywhere and on third-party OTT apps with authenticated Dish credentials.

“Comscore’s new partnership with Dish Media continues our company’s significant steps in our transformation of television and cross-platform measurement of linear and OTT, as we have built the largest viewing dataset of second-by-second viewership data that is aggregated across all premium video providers from the device, to the household, to the zip code, to the market and to the nation,” said Bill Livek, CEO, Comscore.

For more information, visit www.comscore.com.  

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has achieved a major milestone: providing 1,000 local TV station clients with its local television audience measurement and demographic services.

“This is a monumental moment for Comscore and our customers,” said Bill Livek, CEO, Comscore. “Reaching this milestone is a testament of how our customers are looking for advanced ways to better service their clients and improve their profitability using Comscore’s services.”

The company, which this year marks its 10th anniversary, measures television viewership from return path devices across tens of millions of households in all local markers. Using this technique enables Comscore to look more closely, beyond age and gender, to transact on consumer behaviors, interests and lifestyles, the company said.

Comscore announced June 9 that it had inked a deal to provide Cox Media Group with local TV measurement services in six new markets, including Syracuse, N.Y.; Spokane; Wash.; Idaho Falls; Eureka, Calif.; Binghamton, N.Y.; and Alexandria, La. The deal also extends TV measurement in Yuma, Ariz.; Medford, Wash.; and Greenwood, Miss., it said.

More information is available on the Comscore website. 

RESTON, Va.—Comscore and CoxReps have announced a new deal that will have Comscore provide full-service ratings and impressions data for all local TV markets affiliated with CoxReps.

This is a renewal of long relationship between the two companies, according to CoxReps COO Ann Hailer.

“Comscore’s ability to offer targeted automotive, political and consumer data enables CoxReps to provide a superior national sales representation for our client stations,” said Hailer.

For more information, visit www.comscore.com.