BELLEVUE, Wash., NEW YORK & TEL AVIV—TV measurement company iSpot has announced that it is expanding its cross-platform viewing verification capabilities with the acquisition of Tunity, the TV-viewing solutions and analytics company that measures consumer viewing habits in public locations nationwide.
Tunity offers out of home measurement of TV viewing in bars, restaurants, gyms, universities, waiting rooms, doctors’ offices, airports and more.
Modeling viewing behavior from hundreds of thousands of individuals in the U.S., Tunity estimates out-of-home viewing can account for upwards of 100 million hours per day, representing a highly attractive audience of viewers that are more likely to have disposable income and be actively spending on recreation, the companies said.
“The existing ratings models have proven to woefully misrepresent viewership in public spaces, which has an impact on the business models for the buy and sell side,” said Sean Muller, CEO and founder at iSpot. “iSpot’s acquisition of Tunity will enable us to meet a massive demand in the marketplace with a more unified, independent measurement system that tracks audience consumption of ads and programming on a second-by-second basis, across platforms and viewing experiences.”
In addition to integrating the Tunity Analytics capabilities into its full-funnel measurement stack, iSpot is picking up a series of patents and expanding its technical operations with engineering resources from Tel Aviv, Israel that include expertise in next-generation deep/machine learning, cloud computing and computer-vision capabilities.
The group will continue to be led by Tunity founder Yaniv Davidson.
“iSpot and Tunity share a similar DNA in that both organizations were purpose-built to solve massive structural problems in measurement using patented technologies and real-time solutions,” said Davidson. “We’re excited to combine the strength of our technologies, the passion of our engineers to bring smarter solutions to the marketplace. Our success is a benefit for advertisers and networks, but it also delivers palpable benefits to consumers.”
Along with a core group of engineers, Tunity head of research and analytics Paul Lindstrom, a 40-year out of home measurement veteran will retain his role within iSpot.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
