• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 25, 2012

Can you accurately measure the impact of online video advertising on offline consumer purchases?

Videology is going to try. The ad platform, formerly known as TidalTV, is entering into dual partnerships with database marketing and behavioral targeting services provider I-Behavior and Kantar Shopcom, which runs a database containing information from 231 million consumers across 270 CPG, retail, travel, lodging and services categories.

The goal is to help marketers reach users based on their demographic makeup or in-store activity, explained Kevin Haley, Chief Scientist at Videology. 

“What advertisers really want to know is if their advertising moves soap off the shelves,” says Haley. He says the ability to provide advertisers with ongoing, offline ROI measurement should have a "significant impact on advertising strategies within the digital video space.”

With the three-way partnership, advertisers can target offline purchase-based segments across Videology’s in-stream video network of more than 80 million consumers, Haley promised.

Meanwhile, given the volume of data that will result from the enterprise, Haley sees an opportunity for analysis of purchase behavior at the brand level, including increases in sales volume, frequency of purchase and retail penetration. 

Launched in late 2007, Videology was known to the world as TidalTV until earlier this month. The name change was meant to convey a more video- and technology-heavy image.

To coincide with renaming, Videology recently debuted a sell-side platform to complement the capabilities currently offered to media agencies.

Videology is competing for a share of a vastly expanding and competitive market. eMarketer estimates that by 2015, 76% of Web users -- or 195.5 million people -- will be watching online video each month. In the same period, the research firm predicts online video advertising spending will surge from $1.97 billion to $5.71 billion.