Disney this week named Samba TV as its first official measurement partner amid a broader effort to provide marketers with more tools to analyze their advertising campaigns. Brands will have access to Samba TV’s True Reach and Frequency platform for deeper insights into audiences among a variety of connected devices including smart TVs.
“We’re no longer measuring video on one screen in prime time, because that’s not how we watch TV anymore,” Ashwin Navin, co-founder and chief executive of Samba TV, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “We’re watching TV on all devices throughout the day, and that flexibility we offer consumers needs to be reflected in the measurement.”
Samba TV’s agreement with Disney follows an especially dramatic shift in viewing habits in the past couple of years. The pandemic kept more people at home, where they searched for fresh programming on streaming platforms amid suspensions of studio productions and a dearth in live sports. Many of these viewer habits have persisted, challenging advertisers and media owners to find a media currency that better represents the value of advertising.
“We’ve got to innovate so that the currency and the measurement we have in the market reflects how we actually live,” Navin said. “Samba was built for the streaming generation. We were built on connected TV.”
Expanded Collaboration
This week’s agreement brings Samba TV to Disney’s ad-sales side after several years of helping the entertainment giant in its media buying and marketing efforts. While Disney owns a vast portfolio of media assets, its marketing efforts extend into a variety of channels with the campaigns for its movies, theme parks, travel destinations and streaming services.
“Disney’s marketers brought us over to the sell side of the organization — the organization that sells advertising,” Navin said. “Disney has evaluated a lot of different partners, and we worked together to create a methodology that reflects what currency needs to represent now.”
Disney tomorrow hosts its second year Tech and Data Showcase to highlight its innovations in services for advertisers. The showcase is somewhat of a preamble to the upfront season later in the spring when it highlights its programming.
“When clients come to Disney in the upfront cycle…they know that Disney not only brings unparalleled quality, but also tremendous scale that can be accurately measured by partners like Samba,” Navin said.
