SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—When it comes to matching consumer datasets, Comscore should be considered more of a chef than someone who actually produces food. “We offer these audiences tied to the viewing behavior of television and to digital audiences as well. What you have to understand is that we don’t have a hand in creating that first-party data,” says EVP of National TV Carol Hinnant.
When brands bring data to Comscore, it matches that information through privacy complaint manners to the viewing behaviors generated by its cross-platform data sets. “I think that is the misnomer of when people say ‘I want to bring this first-party data. You have to then have all of the rights in order to match that,” Hinnant explains in this interview at the recent Beet Retreat 2018.
“I do think that is something that needs to be verified and Comscore plays a big role in that we can make sure that it’s matched in the same way,” Hinnant adds. “We can verify to any agency or brand that wants to come in that this is how we match the data and this is the sizing of that particular segment and this is what was delivered.”
Asked for her thoughts about OpenAP, the audience targeting consortium created by Fox, Turner and Viacom, she sees it as one of the answers to the industry challenge of removing friction in the marketplace. Comscore’s advanced audiences was one of the first data sources integrated into the new system.
“I think that the partners have done a good job to pool their inventory and allow any marketer to come in and say, ‘Yes this the segment I want to trade on and this is the pool of inventory.’ So it does make that process easier.”
According to Hinnant, advertisers ranging from American Express to Universal Pictures are trading in the OpenAP system, “so I think those are great at-bats and great starts. I think there needs to be more inventory available. Comscore’s just happy to be playing in that universe.”
To thread the needle of varying players all seeking to harness more data for consumer targeting, Comscore is “beholden to all of our verticals. The MVPD’s have put us in business through their delivery of data that we manage for them, set-top box and return path data,” Hinnant notes. “We look at all of our partners across the digital ecosystems and then our own panel information” to deliver a cohesive measurement system that’s useful. We’re trying to help provide the solutions to our customer base.”
This video was produced in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the Beet.TV executive retreat. Please find more videos from the series on this page. The Beet Retreat was presented by NCC along with Amobee, Dish Media, Oath and Google.
