Inscape Develops Smart TV Tuner Technology to Provide Big Data to Local TV Stations

Inscape
(Image credit: Inscape)

Inscape, a major provider of currency-grade smart TV data from millions of Vizio TVs, has announced they are expanding measurement coverage of local stations by tapping directly into tuners built into Smart TVs.

The new solution will significantly increase Inscape’s coverage to thousands of local stations and offer local TV stations a big data source for over-the-air viewing spanning all stations and markets., the company said.

The launch comes at a time when cord cutting has made the measurement of over-the-air signals more important than ever. Currently about 18% of TV households report having a digital antenna and watching TV over the air., Inscape reported.

Both Comscore and Videoamp are adding the data to their measurement solutions.

“For Comscore, having multiple sources of data capture is a key component of our TV measurement approach, which spans across all 210 local markets. Incorporating Smart TV Tuner Data from Inscape gives Comscore additional views into local station viewing behaviors, enabling us to better serve our clients with the most precise measurement,” said David Algranati, chief innovation officer, Comscore.

“By unlocking the potential of local TV in this game-changing way and bringing the full power of big data to OTA signals, clients and the industry as a whole will now have a critical entrypoint to previously unfeasible attribution of local TV content,” said Charbel Makhoul, vice president of product management, data science and analytics at Vizio/Inscape.

“We’re excited that Inscape is bringing the scale and representativeness from its 22+ million opt-in Smart TV homes to local,” said Josh Chasin, former chief measurability officer, VideoAmp. “In doing so, the entire local marketplace will now have access to the highest fidelity data in order to capitalize on the growth potential that CTV brings to the space. Local TV, and especially over the air (OTA) digital broadcast, is one of the most robust spaces in the video ecosystem. We’re thrilled that Inscape is proactively supporting the measurement of this vital piece of the video pie.”

The company said that Inscape’s Tuner Data will help address the longstanding challenge of measuring viewers and developing accurate audience insights regarding the viewing of local Over-the-Air (OTA) TV signals. The Tuner Data will help overcome this blindspot by creating an industry-wide solution for local TV markets regardless of size, the company said.

More specifically, the new solution builds on Inscape’s ACR technology that is always running to identify content and commercials on the TV screen. The new Tuner Data will layer on additional data points collected directly from built-in televisions tuners to supplement exposure signals for smaller markets. This also marks a major step forward in accurately capturing the audiences of smaller subnets, Inscape said,

George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.