Strategic Investment Round Will Accelerate Person-level Panel Measurement for Streaming, Advancing Standards for Unified Ratings Across Linear and CTV for TVision
TVision, the company measuring every second of TV and CTV viewer engagement, today announced it closed an investment round of $16mm for the continued transformation and modernization of accurate, person-level panel measurement. The round was led by a strategic investment from iSpot, the real-time TV measurement company and new currency provider, along with continued support from SIG Capital, Accomplice, and Golden Ventures.
The development comes at a time when the broader industry is voicing its desire for an alternative and modern approach to panel-based measurement and new ways to transact on TV and it deepens the ties between two companies with extensive contracts for new currency endeavors.
The new round brings TVision’s total funds raised to over $58 million. The financing is recognition that TVision’s patented technology for passively measuring people in a room and their eyes-on-screen attention to ads and programming across both TV and CTV has gained adoption. Brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms rely on TVision’s insight into how people really watch TV.
The strategic investment includes expanded licensing terms that make iSpot the only measurement company able to utilize co-viewing to accurately personify CTV audiences for ratings across 900+ streaming apps and publishers using TVision’s proprietary streaming audience panel. The investment builds on a long-standing relationship between iSpot and TVision to measure co-viewing and person-level metrics for linear TV and will support iSpot’s trusted, cross-platform currencies for all video. As a part of the investment, iSpot CEO and founder Sean Muller will join the TVision board.
“The $90B TV and CTV marketplace cannot transact on methods developed decades ago and expect to give today’s advertisers real visibility into how multiscreen TV drives their very modern brand KPIs. The industry needs ever-more investment in new technologies capable of capturing the reach, engagement, and audience insights that boost advertiser confidence in escalating their ad investment with multiscreen TV publishers,” said Sean Cunningham, CEO & President of the VAB. "We applaud the work iSpot and TVision have done to advance the industry and are encouraged by the investments each is making to develop more accurate and representative cross-platform measurement capabilities."
TVision’s modern approach to person-level measurement, its ability to detect over-the-air households for smart TVs, and remove bias from census-level data sets have made it the preferred calibration panel for alternative currency providers.
“Combining iSpot’s massive panel with TVision’s modern approach to counting real people helps advertisers measure co-viewing across linear and CTV with greater accuracy across households and diverse audiences,” said Kelly Abcarian, EVP, Measurement & Impact at NBCUniversal. “A cross-platform currency, based on the exact ad and powered by fast and accurate co-viewing metrics, will also bring a completely new approach to valuing premium content."
The investment comes at a time when the marketplace demands a more accurate and comprehensive approach to audience measurement, and the ability to transact with multiple currencies that align with publisher and marketer value.
“This partnership is a step towards accurately counting every individual in front of the TV screen,” said Andrea Zapata, EVP of Ad Sales Research, Measurement, and Insights at Warner Bros. Discovery. “TVision’s modern measurement approach is more precise in identifying who is in front of the screen. With investments towards panel growth and the inclusion of multiple tv sets in a household, there is a real possibility of having a representative panel that relies less on additional panel(s) for calibration.”
TVision is meeting the market demand for modern measurement with person-level attention, co-viewing, and engagement metrics in use by the largest brand advertisers, major media networks, and new currency providers such as iSpot.
“Future video currencies that leverage both census and panel data will provide the industry with a more accurate understanding of who is really watching TV regardless of how that content gets to the screen. TVision has pioneered a new approach and put the infrastructure in place to transform how co-viewing and personification of audiences work for the TV industry,” says TVision CEO, Yan Liu. “Together with great customers and the latest strategic investment round from iSpot, we’re positioned to help fuel a new, more transparent, and open TV ecosystem.”
“Our investment in TVision is an investment in the future of CTV and cross-platform TV currencies,” says iSpot CEO and Founder, Sean Muller. “We applaud the innovations of TVision in building the home panel of the future, and are looking forward to more advancements from TVision fueled by our investment.”
The funds raised will support TVision’s continued growth of CTV measurement products designed to support the industry’s understanding and ability to capitalize on changing viewer behaviors and the rapidly emerging CTV opportunities.
About TVision
TVision provides second-by-second, person-level data about how people watch TV – who’s watching, what they’re watching, and how much attention they are paying to both linear and streaming TV. Advertisers, agencies, networks, streaming content providers, measurement companies, and data platforms use TVision data to make more informed media decisions, measure performance, produce content that engages audiences, and benchmark their results against competitors. TVision is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Boston and Tokyo.
About iSpot.tv
iSpot.tv is a cross-platform TV measurement company trusted by brands and networks to deliver fast, accurate and actionable information the marketplace can use to transact. Its real-time, always-on platform measures all phases of the TV advertising lifecycle from creative testing to audience verification, to business outcomes and brand impact, empowering brands to justify, optimize and invest with confidence. iSpot persistently measures TV-device impressions and second-by-second attention for all TV ads in a unified manner across linear, time-shifted, VOD , streaming environments and Out of Home environments. A trusted currency provider for networks, ad delivery platforms and agencies, iSpot uses its proprietary systems for bringing transparency into TV advertising at unparalleled scale. The company delivers its solution in real time via intuitive and modern dashboards as well as APIs and customized analytics. iSpot.tv has hundreds of brands and all major TV networks licensing its enterprise solution and has become a trusted currency for networks, brands and agencies. Founded in Bellevue, Washington in 2012, iSpot has offices in major cities across America.