Adobe said that comScore will be adopting new Adobe Certified Metrics for the measurement of digital TV and advertising content.
Adobe analytics are used by many of the major broadcasters and pay-TV companies. The deal will help media companies capture more of their digital viewership and advertisers better identify the audiences engaged with contents.
Adobe in October announced a deal with Nielsen to create a cross-platform system for measuring online TV, video and other digital content using Nielsen audience data and Adobe analytics. Media companies including ESPN, Turner Broadcasting, Univision and Viacom participated in the rollout.
As part of its new deal with comScore, which aspires to be a serious competitor to Nielsen, comScore audience data, including demographics, will be available to clients using the Adobe marketing cloud.
Adobe, which held its annual summit with partners and clients, also announced that it would extend its Adobe Primetime product to embrace over-the-top delivery of content. The product includes a recommendation engine that can use multiple data sources.
With the integration of Adobe’s digital marketing tools, TV networks and pay-TV providers can more effectively package and sell subscription- and advertising-based OTT services, offer highly engaging experiences, and build audiences with more personalized content and advertising, Adobe said.
"Television is going through this transformation where viewers want a multiscreen experience that’s consistent and continuous across whatever screen they’re watching. That’s driving all kind of change from a business perspective for media companies who seek to deliver the content experience that their viewers want,” said Jeremy Helfand, VP of video solutions for Adobe.
“One of those areas, one of those key friction points that need resolution for the market to evolve the way it needs to is measurement,” Helfand said. “We’re standardizing the implementation of analytics that these companies are using so there’s a common view and a common set of metrics around things like time spent, ads viewed, content viewed, engagement metrics.”
comScore, which specialized in online metrics, earlier this year acquired Rentrak, which measures TV using set-top box data.
The combined companies promised to introduce new products that would measure TV, OTT and digital viewing by early April, in time for the beginning of the upfront buying season.
Early this month, comScore stock dropped when it announced that “potential accounting matters” would force it to delay the completion of its annual report. The company postponed its investor day and suspended its share repurchase program.
Last week, comScore announced that it made a deal for cross-platform measurement with Viacom, which has been critical of Nielsen as its cable networks’ ratings have declined.
Viacom already did business with comScore, which measures online audiences. It also did business with Rentrak before it was acquired by comScore.
MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and the other networks owned by Viacom will continue to get ratings data from Nielsen. And some Nielsen data will continue to be pumped through data products like Viacom Vantage, which the media company uses persuade clients to buy advertising.
Viacom’s ad revenues were down 4% in the quarter that ended in December, and that was an improvement from previous quarters.
A Viacom spokesperson confirmed Nielsen is not being replaced, adding that while the company continues to work with Nielsen, comScore is additive and provides more granular data.
(Photo via Max Kiesler's Flickr. Image taken on March 22, 2016 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)
