Ampersand and Blockgraph have gotten together to make it easier for media buyers at Interpublic Group agencies to use data from IPG’s Acxiom unit to plan and buy audience driven multiscreen TV campaigns.
The agreement lets advertisers securely match their own data with the viewing data Ampersand has in its And platform about the 80 million households it reaches — 52 million of which are addressable.
Data from Ampersand and Acxiom will be available within a single, always-on interface, with consumers’ privacy preserved.
“This is a game changer,” Ampersand senior VP, data and analytics Justin Rosen told Broadcasting+Cable.
“This integration more directly, more seamlessly connects that Acxiom and IPG first- and third-party dataset directly with Ampersand’s distribution partners,” Rosen said. “It creates the speed of activation, really strong match rates and the ability to take these audiences and distribute them for cross-platform addressable TV.”
Ampersand is owned by cable companies Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications and sells their ad inventory to national and regional advertisers.
The combination will also lower costs as the frequency and scale of campaigns increase, said Jason Manningham, CEO of Blockgraph, the technology company owned by Charter Communications, Comcast NBCUniversal and Paramount that enables targeting and measurement with its Identity Operating System.
“As activations increase, and as measurement increases, you start seeing a lot of economies of scale,” Manningham said. “Our industry is evolving and trying new ways of working together. These huge partnerships bring together the scale for the marketplace and the cost savings will be meaningful for the industry.” ▪️
Initially, IPG agencies will be the first to have direct access to the Acxiom data though the arrangement with Ampersand and Blockgraph, but it will not be exclusive, said Conor Burgess, VP of business development at Acxiom.
“It’s really about solving the unique problem we have with identity supply chains and operational challenges. So the more seamless and frictionless you can make it is going to advantage anyone involved in the process,” Burgess said. “With data, if it’s scalable and match counts are accurate and it’s the audience you want to reach, you’ll use it.”
The demand for better ways of sharing data are increasing.
“I think the macro trends are clear. Brands have their own data. Whether that originates as first-party or third-part, they have their own data they want to use for planning data-driven linear, CTV linear addressable or VOD addressable campaigns,” Manningham said. “Being able to do that quickly with all of the controls that all of the data owner need is really essential.” ■
