According to iSpot.tv data, Disney and Turner Sports’ coverage of the two-month playoffs stretch raked in $842.4 million in sales revenue, as official NBA sponsors such as AT&T Wireless, State Farm, Google Pixel, Kia Motors and Taco Bell chased after the spring’s largest allotment of ad impressions. That marked a 19% lift over the $705.3 million that ESPN, ABC and TNT brought in during last year’s delayed postseason run, and a 54% rise compared to the 2019 haul ($546.2 million).

They have notably been leading the way in terms of seeking out alternative cross-platform currencies and results issued last week from a currency pilot test they ran in conjunction with iSpot, shows that brands are massively underspending on streaming.

As per said study, while the average media buy skews 91% linear, in order to effectively maximize reach without overloading on frequency. brands should actually be spending only 60% to 70% on linear.

A stat Netflix is sure to want to make use of in their marketing decks.

To be clear, this is not some self-serving stat that NBCU and iSpot pulled from out of nowhere. It is very much in line with other research, including a recent study from Samsung that advocates that brands spend 40% of their budget on streaming in order to achieve effective reach/frequency targets.

Pearpop just announced a partnership with social-video metrics company Tubular Labs to connect retail data from AmazonAMZN and WalmartWMTwith social-video viewing behaviors. Pearpop is incorporating Tubular’s existing Consumer Insights offering for the partnership.

With that data in mind, NBCU is adding emotional impact to its audience measurement framework, which it has sought to build out this year by elevating partners like iSpot.tv and Comscore and boosting its capabilities around data. The moves come as it looks towards a future where Nielsen is no longer the dominant currency for measurement — especially as advertising becomes even more fragmented across platforms.
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While the new initiative was just announced at Cannes Lions, Abcarian hopes to be able to share initial results early in the fourth quarter. That is a similar timeline to its recent currency pilot with iSpot.tv, the details of which NBCU shared last week. The test-and-learn — across 67 advertisers and 158 brands — set a baseline for how experiments around a new currency framework are working and how they can be better optimized.

The major takeaway of the pilot was that 40% of NBCU’s upfront business will be conducted outside traditional “age and gender” guarantees — whether done with AdSmart, OpenAP, iSpot and to some extent Nielsen — demonstrating a shift that has advertisers seeking measurement beyond legacy standards.

Television-ad spending also has declined across the board in recent months, according to Tyler Bobin, senior brand analyst at iSpot.tv, which measures traditional and streaming TV, who says the trend can only partly be explained by the absence of big-ticket sporting events like the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics.

Among the big crypto firms that have dialed back marketing spending are trading platforms Crypto.com and Gemini Trust according to data from iSpot.tv and Pathmatics, which is part of Sensor Tower.

As per a WSJ report, GroupM and iSpot conducted the study on 20 million Vizio smart TVs for six months, and they are partnering up for another measurement phase.

Around 17% of TV ads connected to dongles, consoles, streaming sticks, and boxes keep playing even if your device is powered off. If that sounds malicious, it is anything but that and is more of a technical fault.

While creativity is the heart of the festival, discussions will no doubt swirl around data and measurement, Kassan predicted. “I think the conversation in Cannes is still going to revolve around currency and whether Nielsen, with all the competitive pressure now from iSpot, VideoAmp, DoubleVerify, Comscore, OpenAP, Xander, and other ways of measuring,” he said. “Are we going to really create another currency? Those are real topics that need to be addressed.”

This is crucial after GroupM and iSpot.TV released a study that found that advertisers are wasting $1 billion a year because some ads are being counted despite being delivered when the television is turned off.

Sell-side advertising platform Magnite said it has certified Comscore, iSpot.TV, Innovid and VideoAmp along with Nielsen as measurement systems that can be used as currency for programmatic buying of connected TV advertising inventory.

“CTV advertising operates on many different currencies today - from self-reported audience impressions to third-party outcome-based guarantees,” said Kristen Williams, senior VP, strategic partnerships at Magnite.

Also related to the Upfronts, NBCUniversal confirmed that it would be using measurement partner iSpot.tv and Scripps Networks said it had chosen TVision because that service most accurately captured viewership data for its portfolio of channels
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One thing that I found interesting is that, of all the solutions listed, the only one with current MRC accreditation is Media Monitors. Further, in addition to Nielsen, which reapplied for accreditation after resolving its methodology problems, only Comscore and iSpot.tv are currently under review with the service.

Companies relying on big data -- including iSpot.tv, Comscore and VideoAmp -- are being tested and considered by several networks and media agencies.

'This technology is future proof'

TVSquared and Innovid haven’t figured as prominently as other Nielsen rivals such as Comscore, VideoAmp and iSpot.tv in recent trials of alternative deal currencies. But InnovidXP “extends beyond currency, encompassing the full breadth of cross-platform analytics,” including outcomes such as sales lift, according to Innovid's statement.

A billion-dollar bug. New research suggests one-in-six ads on a streaming service run when viewers’ televisions are turned off, an issue that could cost advertisers more than $1 billion annually, The Wall Street Journal reported. The analysis by ad-buying company GroupM and ad-measurement firm iSpot.tv looked at the financial fallout of streamed shows remaining on after customers turned off their televisions, a common occurrence for those who access streaming through a piece of hardware. The issue does not occur on smart televisions with built-in streaming apps.

The huge “Jurassic” franchise tops all theatrical movies in national TV advertising for the last two weeks -- earning 843.6 million impressions from 2,726 commercial airings, with an $6.5 million in estimated national TV spend, according to iSpot.tv

Disney Pixar’s upcoming animated “Lightyear” comes in next with 653.7 million impressions and 2,252 airings, and $7.2 million in estimated national TV advertising.

Universal Pictures continues to be busy in the next coming weeks, with two more summer releases “Minions: The Rise of Gru” (650 airings) and “The Black Phone” (577 airings).

Those TV commercials have resulted in 226.7 million and 168.4 million impressions, respectively. For “Minions,” estimated spend was at $3.9 million; “Black Phone” at $2.0 million.

“This approach to verifying CTV allows us to quantify a complex problem in a comprehensive way, yet more importantly provides insights and a pathway for solving an important issue for the industry,” said Sean Muller, CEO of iSpot.tv.

"Depending on the configuration among the three components -- TV make and model, streaming device and publisher app -- the CTV impression overcount by publisher ranged 2.5% to 15% across all CTV streaming activity," the study found.

iSpot has been among the audience-measurement firms vying as "alternate currencies" to Nielsen for the TV and so-called "cross-platform" ratings in this year's upfront advertising marketplace.

iSpot, which has even been independently "certified" as ad market currency by at least one big media company -- NBCUniversal -- currently is the only Nielsen alternative that has any MRC accreditation, though that is only for TV occurrence data, not for actual audience measurement.

The overcount results in about $1 billion in CTV ad waste, Stephens analyst Nicholas Zanger estimated.

The results of the study led GroupM to aim to create new standards for streaming viewability and CTV measurement, and iSpot has developed a product called iSpotCTV Verification, which measures continuous play at the campaign level. GroupM will have exclusive access to the product when it completes testing and development.

Some 17% of ads shown on televisions connected through a streaming device—including streaming boxes, dongles, sticks and gaming consoles—are playing while the TV is off, according to a study by WPP PLC’s ad-buying giant GroupM and ad-measurement firm iSpot.tv Inc

Sports wagering national advertising nearly quadrupled for the nine months ending May 31, soaring 281% to $282 million over that period, according to iSpot.tv.
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Not surprisingly, the NFL — the most popular sports league in the US — led the way in total sports betting ad impressions. After sportsbook operators plunked down $21.4 million in week 1 ads, spots run during that league’s broadcasts commanded 42.5% of betting ad impressions, notes iSpot.tv. The NBA was net at 7.9% followed by Major League Baseball at 5%. College football, the NHL, and the PGA Tour combined for 5.8%.
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“As one example, FanDuel more than tripled national TV ad spend year-over-year, emphasizing the NFL, NBA, college football and MLB for its ad buys. The brand accounted for nearly 34% of sportsbook ad impressions on national TV from Sept. 1, 2021 through May 31, 2022, which led the way for the industry,” notes iSpot.tv.
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“While FanDuel led the way by impressions, its TV ad creatives were focused on factual spots, versus the more humorous approach of competitors like Caesars,” says iSpot.tv.

​​Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only.

The NBA Finals scored the most TV ad impressions on the week, with 2.23 billion — 5.3% of the total. Those impressions are up nearly 40% year-over-year compared to the first two games of last year’s Finals, which took place in early July.