• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, March 1, 2017

YuMe on Wednesday said it has joined with Nielsen to launch a programmatic platform-based campaign-based audience measurement offering for connected TV (CTV) campaigns.

The product allows YuMe to provide clients with campaign-level audience measurement data across its network of app publishers within the CTV marketplace. That includes TVs connected to the Internet via OTT (over-the-top TV) devices, Blu-ray players, streaming boxes like Roku and Apple TV, gaming consoles, and smart TVs that have built-in Internet capabilities.

YuMe said that CTV is an increasingly important part of its revenue, though it declined to offer a percentage.

“This is the year of connected television,” said Michael Hudes, chief revenue officer, YuMe, “when it moves from becoming an interesting screen to something more mainstream.”

Hudes said the significance of the news is that YuMe can now bring audience measurement for CTV on a campaign-level basis and compare that audience to the audience on other screens, and more importantly, on linear TV. “We want to give our clients a deeper understanding of the CTV audience.”

Discussing Nielsen, Hudes said, “People love and hate it [Nielsen], but it will continue to be the currency for the majority of how media dollars are spent globally.”

Hurdles to audience measurement vis-à-vis CTV to date have included a lack of uniform measurement. There are many different devices—LG Samsung, Roku, Apple TV, Sony—and all have their own touchpoints for measurement. “We’ve been waiting for some uniform measurement, and this makes it foundational,” Hudes said.

He cited Procter & Gamble’s Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard’s recent comments about ad fraud and poor ad viewing experiences, and Facebook’s video ad metrics issues as helping fuel momentum for CTV and its measurement.

Hudes’ view is that CTV and connected devices offer a safer and more viewable environment than desktop experiences  He maintained that CTV is an environment that, so far, has limited fraud and has higher viewablity. He intimated that YuMe has been invited to participate in TV-like upfronts for CTV by planning and strategy teams.

YuMe tested its offering with Dentsu Aegis Network. “Our goal is to implement buys using consumer insights combined with the latest tools to meet our clients’ brand goals,” stated Michael Law, EVP/managing director, video investments at Dentsu Aegis Network.

Dentsu is looking to obtain more insightful CTV audience data to help improve its video campaigns across mobile, linear TV, CTV, and desktop.

"We believe that Yume’s ability to deliver audience ratings as a buying metric allows us to better compare them against other linear and non-linear video options. Our goal is create a trading platform with consistent metrics that allow us to compare price and help better determine the success from a business outcomes standpoint for our clients," Michael Law, EVP/managing director, video investments at Dentsu Aegis Network, told Real-Time Daily via email.

"We have been working in the connected TV space for a couple of years, and a hurdle has been measurement and the ability to target. The new capability to buy both age/ gender targets as well as specific segments will be a key for growth," he noted.

An article detailing a recent eMarketer report revealed that CTV users are estimated to reach 202.1 million by 2020, and represent 60.4% of the U.S. population, up from 56.1% in 2016.   

Brands that run CTV campaigns with YuMe may be eligible for audience composition reporting that offers demographic breakouts based on Nielsen’s audience data.