BELLEVUE, Wash. & NEW YORK—Amid ongoing consolidation in the ad measurement and tech sector, iSpot.tv has acquired 605, a measurement and attribution company.
The deal brings together two independent TV measurement companies with a significant customer footprint across brands, TV networks and streaming publishers. The acquisition is iSpot’s fourth in five years and the largest to date. Parties are not disclosing the terms of the deal.
Besides expanding its TV measurement market share, the acquisition of 605 bolsters iSpot’s measurement solutions for video and TV advertising effectiveness, especially in the areas of business outcome attribution, advanced audience measurement, media planning and data science managed services, the companies reported.
“605 has developed an impressive technology architecture, a great approach to using big data and a suite of powerful solutions that nicely complement our own,” says Sean Muller, founder and CEO of iSpot. “We are excited to integrate their world-class team of engineers and data scientists in our mission to modernize measurement effectiveness and new currencies.”
With the acquisition, iSpot will add set-top box data from 16.6 million homes to its smart TV data footprint, bringing iSpot’s total available TV device footprint to 82.7 million. The combined data sets, which include smart TV data from Vizio and LG, will serve as a foundation for delivering accurate, representative measurement and new currencies to the TV marketplace.
“We launched 605 seven years ago with the idea that high-quality data and advanced analytics would make television advertising even more effective, from planning and segmentation all the way through to attribution and now prediction. During a time of profound change in our industry, I could not be more proud of the team for delivering on that promise,” said Kristin Dolan, founder of 605 and today the CEO of AMC Networks. “iSpot has built a large and loyal customer base, particularly with large brand advertisers, and is a pioneer in the measurement space. I can’t wait to see the things this powerful combination of technology and talent can achieve and bring to a growing array of clients and partners under iSpot’s leadership.”
The deal for 605 will provide iSpot with innovative solutions that have been broadly adopted by TV networks and will augment iSpot’s offerings. These include best-in-class business outcome attribution solutions that measure effectiveness against CPG sales, auto sales, credit card, location, search and survey KPIs. Capabilities also include a powerful planning and optimization platform, advanced audience segmentation and predictive analytics capabilities powered by machine learning.
All 85 employees of 605 will be joining iSpot, bringing total employee count to 464. In the immediate term, 605 will continue to operate as an iSpot company, building and supporting 605 solutions.
The companies also said that they will work together to integrate all products under a single offering that will utilize a unified data spine and technology infrastructure for all measurement and currency offerings.
