Pilots have begun in which the ad agency Dentsu will test using VideoAmp metrics, not Nielsen or Comscore, to measure ViacomCBS viewership.

It is one more way in which media and agency businesses are looking for an alternative to traditional measurement.

In this video interview with Beet.TV, Brad Stockton, SVP, US National Video Innovation, Dentsu, explains what is happening.

Power of four

Announced in December, the arrangement sees ViacomCBS and Dentsu use VideoAmp and OpenAP’s new XPm to measure cross-platform campaign effectiveness. Pilots were slated to start in Q1 2022.

Dentsu had already enlisted VideoAmp in April 2021 to power DELTA, its Data-Enabled Linear TV Activation product, integrating audience and viewership data for planning, buying and measurement reporting into a single source.

The arrangement also sees OpenID’s XPm used for audience identification against data sets like those from Dentsu’s own Merkle.

“This is honestly really a first of its kind,” says Stockton. “We’re really excited about the partnership between all four companies.

“If you ask me, it’s true interoperability – putting together a national broadcast network like ViacomCBS, partnering with our preferred platform who powers DELTA in VideoAmp and then utilising OpenAP to really help us with the cross-platform element.”

Cross-platform future

The industry is searching for alternative ways to count viewership not only of new, streaming platforms but also of linear consumption.

Crucially, companies increasingly want a single lens onto cross-platform consumption – and cross-channel marketing effectiveness.

“It’s not just linear TV, it’s also crossing into their digital and addressable channels,” Stockton adds.

“So for us, it’s really groundbreaking in what we’re really putting together here to allow us to really start with our audiences, plan against them, measure and buy against them, and understand the impact and the effectiveness of the campaign.”