LAS VEGAS — A+E Networks, AMC Networks, CBS, Discovery, Fox, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia will run dynamically swapped-out ads ads in live linear TV feeds as part of a beta test for Nielsen’s addressable TV advertising technology.

Nielsen announced the beta on Monday. It will run through the first half of 2020 ahead of a planned full commercial launch later in the year.

Speaking with Beet.TV at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nielsen’s general manager of advanced video advertising, Kelly Abcarian, said: “We’re … unlocking true live linear. It’s really any kind of telecast, whether that’s sports or drama or comedy; we’re enabling any programmer to basically execute ad replacement in real-time as that telecast is being watched and viewed in real-time in a consumer’s home.”

Nielsen’s offering is the result of a series of acquisitions. Nielsen in 2018 acquired Sorenson Media, the early video encoding pioneer which had since moved in to enabling household-level addressable TV ad targeting but which had since filed for bankruptcy.

Nielsen has used Sorenson to launch Nielsen Advanced Video Advertising (AVA), which sees the Sorenson tech sit alongside the automatic content recognition (ACR) capability Sorenson acquired from Gracenote, to offer ad buyers addressable capabilities.

Gracenote’s ACR technology enables teal-time detection of which ads are actually being played on devices by consumers. Sorenson’s delivers targeted ads. Nielsen’s measures the ads.

Abcarian says the beta will take three phases:

  1. Understanding broadcast companies’ workflow and commercial models.
  2. A “light” technology installation in order for broadcasters to identify which ads they want to replace.
  3. Selling actual ads that are shown in consumers’ homes.

“I think what they’re hoping to learn out of the beta is to understand how their workflow needs to evolve and change,” Abcarian says.

This video is part of Beet.TV’s coverage of advanced TV at CES 2020 presented by Amobee and hosted by GroupM Worldwide.  For more videos from the series, please visit this page.  

By Robert Andrews on    @robertandrews