Alphonso Expands Smart TV Distribution for Video AI to Grow Its TV Audience Data Footprint; Extends Lead in Local TV Measurement with New Partnerships
- Exclusive ACR distribution deals with Seiki and Skyworth build on its existing data set of 15 million US households reporting TV viewership data
- CBS, Cox Media Group roll out Alphonso Local as the company’s technology emerges as the standard for local TV measurement and attribution
MOUNTAIN VIEW. CALIF (July 1, 2020) – TV data and measurement company Alphonso today announced several agreements that will increase the scale of its premium Smart TV viewership data footprint, and fuel further growth of Alphonso Local as the gold standard for local TV and OTT measurement and attribution. Two more global smart TV providers, Seiki and Skyworth, have agreed to embed Alphonso Video AI in millions of Smart TVs in the U.S. and abroad, as well as deploy the technology into TV sets already in market through over-the-air (OTA) activation.
Alphonso Video AI is advanced software incorporating both video and audio ACR (automated content recognition), computer vision, machine learning and more, to index all linear TV and streaming viewership data on the fly, once explicit consent is given by the consumer. Both Seiki and Skyworth agreed to exclusive terms with Alphonso, meaning no other provider of ACR will be present in TVs sold by either company. Alphonso Video AI powers a broad spectrum of TV measurement and retargeting services for brands, agencies, networks and broadcasters.
Alphonso’s TV audience footprint already includes data from smart TVs and connected TV devices in more than 15 million opted-in U.S. households, across brands including Sharp, Toshiba, Hisense, LG, Tivo, and Sling Media. Outside of the U.S., Alphonso Video AI is deployed in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, across multiple smart TV brands, component manufacturers, and content providers. The company expects to be deployed in Australia, Southeast Asia, and India by 2021.
Additionally, the company announced it is working with CBS Broadcasting and Cox Media Group, in addition to TEGNA, NBC, Home Team Sports (Fox Sports) and others, to enable their local TV stations across the U.S. to provide granular TV and OTT measurement and rapid closed-loop attribution to local advertisers. Alphonso Local is the most widely adopted standard for full closed-loop attribution for local advertisers in the U.S. It is now deployed by more than half of the major broadcast station groups, owned and operated broadcasters, and regional sports networks in the U.S.
Ashish Chordia, chief executive officer of Alphonso, said, “In these unprecedented times, marketers have keen eye on returns, perhaps more so now than ever. They need TV measurement solutions that have the scale, the quality, and the diversity of data required for thorough, granular analysis at the national and local level. The partnerships we are announcing today put Alphonso in the best position to help brands and broadcasters take advantage of real-time TV audience data as behaviors shift and audiences migrate across linear and OTT platforms and services. Whether gaining unduplicated reach through connected TV apps, measuring cross-platform campaigns across TV and digital, or understanding the effectiveness of TV ads in driving business KPI’s, Alphonso has the right, premium solution for our clients.”
Alphonso has seen significant traction and growth among brands that increasingly need to have a laser focus on driving results across their linear, local, OTT, and digital spend. The pandemic has underscored the need to rapidly measure the efficacy of TV spend based on the online and offline consumer actions they drive.
Alphonso Insights, the company’s real-time self-serve dashboard that leading brands rely on for audience-data-driven media planning and measurement, is well on its way to becoming the national standard for both large brands who spend massively on TV, and challenger brands whose direct-to-consumer strategies greatly benefit from a deeper understanding of what their customers watch on TV, and when, across which kinds of services and platforms.
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering helps Fortune 500 brands gain competitive intelligence in their category, understand reach at frequency, demographic composition of households actually exposed to their campaigns, creative resonance, and much more. Marketing teams can further improve TV and OTT planning and connect specific TV creatives to online, offline or in-app traffic and conversions.
