Nielsen, a long-time leader in TV and digital measurement, is currently being audited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) and has put its accreditation on hiatus. The first of the new audit’s reports, focused on Nielsen’s Snapshot identity graph solution (which is now integrated into the DAR service) was delivered in November for an MRC audit committee to review. Reports covering additional phases of the audit are scheduled to be delivered throughout the first half of 2022 and will likely continue into the fall.

Due to this, NBCU put out an RFP to create a transparent measurement framework for connected TV (CTV), with more than 100 companies submitting responses.

Nielsen grouped their responses into a helpful “LUMAscape,” which is pictured below.

Though the classification into six categories makes the LUMAscape digestible, it still creates massive confusion for any marketer looking to measure their CTV advertising investments. Which categories do I need and which companies should I work with? With many traditional TV buyers moving dollars into CTV, this poses a learning challenge. Many marketers are scratching their heads and wondering whether they should just continue to invest in traditional TV spots.

We’ll make this a bit simpler, focusing on “measurement” with the understanding that you’ve planned your CTV schedule already – and have opted in to one of the Audience Verification companies for your DSP (which is simple to do, or can easily be requested if you’re working with a managed service partner). One company, TVSquared, appears across multiple categories, including the Currency Contender spot within the Audience Measurement category. They also appear in Incrementality Measurement and Multi-Touch Attribution. So, by working with this one company, you will have reporting on media dollars/impressions/spots by network, program and creative; you will also have attribution measurement for on-site activity (basically tracking what happens on your website, such as visits, leads, sales, etc.), and the ability to assign proper credit to creative and spot placements, not to mention insight into search activity driven by your TV/CTV investments. With an added module, TVSquared can even measure incrementality using a control vs. exposed group. In a nutshell, TVSquared is a one-stop shop for measuring CTV and linear TV without needing to go through multiple partners on the NBCU LUMAscape.

Marcus Thomas uses TVSquared for some of our clients, thereby allowing us to optimize linear TV and CTV using a similar cadence and methodology to digital media. It does come at a cost, but the efficiency, data and insights are worth it. If budgets are smaller and the media team is doing all the work in one DSP, we can rely on their built-in solutions to track performance based on media objectives. We’re always keeping an eye on what’s next and have identified a couple of new players worth checking out:

•  Streaming analytics company Conviva deploys 4 billion “video sensors” across 500 million unique viewers watching 200 billion streams per year. It tracks diverse consumer behavior by placing a sensor in publishers’ and programmers’ videos or streaming content, and centralizing the data. Conviva also claims to improve the viewing experience for both content and ads – such as rebuffering issues – and can serve contextual ads.

•  Dumbstruck, meanwhile, uses AI to analyze video content and gauge the emotional response of viewers. Via a device’s opted-in camera, it uses facial recognition technology to interpret expressions and eye movements. The tech helps marketers get feedback to improve their creative.

•  Additionally, ad tech startup Truthset can help marketers optimize campaigns “on the fly” by measuring performance to ensure the right audiences were reached. Its tech validates consumer data from 15 large third-party data providers, as well as its own independent data set, to vet the accuracy of a particular demographic attribute.