Every weekday we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company.

On the measurement front, NBCU has deepened ties with third-party firms like iSpot.tv as it looks for alternatives or complements to traditional Nielsen numbers.

A new annual survey from CreatorIQ reveals numerous findings around the creator economy, including just how important Instagram Reels have become. According to the report, respondents say Reels are the most effective (most likely to drive engagement/outcomes) content type on Instagram 71% of the time. But just 10% said Stories were, despite also being video-based.

No love lost: This week, measurement panel firm TVision raised $16 million in funding led by Nielsen competitor iSpot as part of its attempt to become a viable alternative. The timing is auspicious: The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), the TV networks’ industry trade body, is currently in discussions with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) to create a rival panel similar in size to that of Nielsen that competitors could use—and TVision is poised to become that provider.

TVision, a company measuring TV and CTV viewer engagement, has closed an investment round of $16 million (€15.3m) for the continued transformation and modernisation of accurate, person-level panel measurement. The round was led by a strategic investment from iSpot, the real-time TV measurement company and new currency provider, along with continued support from SIG Capital, Accomplice and Golden Ventures.

Look no further than Tuesday’s announcement that measurement provider iSpot.tv will incorporate Tvision’s panel-based measurements as part of the latter’s $16 million funding round led by the former.

TVision, a startup providing a proprietary person-level panel data for audience viewership, has nabbed a $16 million strategic investment led by iSpot, which aims to usher in a holistic view for ratings and measurement across the linear and CTV landscape.

Fashion accessory retailer, MZ Wallace, was one of them. After making the decision to relaunch a loyalty program it established in 2014, it turned to Sailthru — part of CM Group and the leading personalized marketing automation SaaS solution for retailers, publishers and media — to bring its loyalty program points management system in house and add new layers of personalization to the experience. Its goal was to reward program members with more engaging, interactive online experiences, add new loyalty perks and rewards, and increase repeat purchases.

Brands including Arby's, Burger King, McDonald's and Panera Bread are still spending millions of dollars advertising chicken sandwiches, according to estimated national TV ad data from iSpot. Arby's upped its spend from $1 million last year to $11.3 million this year to date, while Panera Bread has increased spending from $4.3 million to $25.5 million in the same period. Panera’s newly launched chicken sandwiches have become its most popular sandwich item, according to CEO Niren Chaudhary, cited in the Wall Street Journal in August.

This activity is a result of a number of start-ups and other underdogs trying to be more competitive with Nielsen. Since the company’s recent privatization, it has been operating without industry accreditation for both its local and national TV ratings. This leaves others with no options but to compete. Nielsen’s ratings remain the bedrock of most deals between TV networks and advertisers, but many of the traditional media companies have started to offer new kinds of measurement pacts using companies including iSpot, VideoAmp and Comscore,

A company that seeks to thrive by “measuring every second of TV and Connected TV viewer engagement” has closed an investment round in the millions of dollars. The strategic investment round is designed to accelerate person-level panel measurement for streaming, a move that TVision says advances the standards for unified ratings across linear and Connected TV for the company.

Growing TV measurement company Tvision disclosed it has closed a $16 million investment round led by iSpot.tv, the TV research and measurement data company. TVision says the investment will accelerate person-level measurement for streaming and advance standards for unified ratings data across linear and connected TV (CTV).

TVision has raised $16 million in funding, led by TV adtech firm iSpot. The firm is working on ways to track how many people in a room saw a TV ad. TVision will use the money to build products pitched at advertisers.

The big picture: Nielsen has been on a rocky path as it struggled to adapt to the collapse of linear TV viewing and rise of streaming. The Media Rating Council suspended Nielsen's ratings accreditation last year following an audit, creating yet another chance for rivals to swoop in.

iSpot has a client base consisting of hundreds of brands and all major TV networks including NBCUniversal. Earlier this year NBCUniversal used iSpot for an ad measurement and as a currency test for such high-profile television events as the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics. In March NBCUniversal announced they would be using iSpot’s cross-platform audience measurement as their “official currency for the 2022-23 upfronts”. In June NBCUniversal announced 40% of their nearly completed upfront negotiations had used measurement guarantees beyond traditional age and gender.

iSpot, a media measurement company vying to win clients amid recent pushback against rival Nielsen. has led an investment round in TVision,a company that aims to provide second-by-second analysis of how people watch TV.

Together, iSpot and TVision will start applying that approach to CTV co-viewing, and iSpot’s investment gives it some exclusive access to TVision’s data. Person-level measurement is especially lacking in CTV, Muller said.

“We’re super bullish on the technology they’ve developed for enhanced, passive metering of people,” Muller said. “It’s an important part of future currency. That was really what drove this investment.” The closer relationship between TVision and iSpot won't preclude VideoAmp or others from using the Nielsen alternative for their own measurement, Muller said, adding that he supports development of an alternative industry panel.