ViacomCBS Allows Marketers to Transact on VideoAmp Metrics Instead of Nielsen

As the industry continues to explore alternative measurement solutions in the wake of Nielsen’s public stumbles, ViacomCBS is offering its advertisers a new set of measurement metrics to transact against, alongside stalwarts Nielsen and Comscore. VideoAmp has been added to the fold, in a new partnership between ViacomCBS and the data platform. Starting in early October, ViacomCBS will allow marketers to use VideoAmp TV viewership data to guarantee their linear media transactions against age and gender demographics, as well as customized segments created using its Vantage, ViacomCBS’ advanced advertising platform. The measurement company’s TV dataset includes first- and third-party data sources (including set-top box and automatic content recognition) and 240 million unique user profiles. VideoAmp was integrated into the OpenAP advanced advertising platform earlier this year and is “super-flexible in supporting any kind of audience segment that you want to bring to bear,” John Halley, COO, advertising revenue, ViacomCBS, told Adweek. Because VideoAmp is also a buy-side planning platform, this partnership “aligns those planning KPIs with the guaranteed KPIs, which means we can create a lot more transparency and efficiency,” said Halley, adding that this is the first step on a journey to “reimagine the measurement ecosystem” that “will end in a multi-currency future that can flex depending on the needs of the advertiser.” Nielsen CEO Vows to Accelerate Measurement Fixes After Losing Accreditation Earlier this month, VideoAmp, announced pilot programs with five of the six biggest holding companies, and Halley expects that early usage will come from those holding companies that already use VideoAmp to plan their buys. ViacomCBS will not limit the inventory that can be transacted via VideoAmp data to certain outlets or platforms: the entire portfolio is available. “We truly value ViacomCBS and their forward-thinking strategy when it comes to a new era of media transaction, measurement and, ultimately, the currency options that power it. We want to unlock value for publishers in a privacy-safe way that keeps their audiences at the forefront, regardless of the channel they’re using,” Ross McCray, CEO and co-founder, VideoAmp, said in a statement. 'An industry initiative' While the partnership comes on the heels of Nielsen’s very public faceoff with media companies over pandemic audience undercounting, Halley said this deal was in the works before the those controversies came to a head earlier this year. As of this month, Nielsen’s national TV measurement service lost its accreditation from the Media Rating Council following months of questions about the accuracy of Nielsen’s in-house panel data during the pandemic. Nielsen has promised to make the appropriate fixes, but the VAB, ANA and NBCUniversal have each announced plans in recent weeks to explore new measurement frameworks. ViacomCBS says its VideoAmp partnership is an extension of those efforts. “This is an industry initiative. We’re going to move collectively together to define that future” of measurement, said Halley. “Ultimately, our belief is that future is going to involve multiple currency options, based on the advertiser’s preference—and it’s up to us as sellers to support as many of those options as we can.” That means that ViacomCBS is talking with other measurement providers as well, because “we see on the agency side a real hunger to operate against broader data sets than have traditionally been used,” said Halley. VideoAmp said that it too, is in talks with other major media companies about creating other currency pilots similar to the one with ViacomCBS.