Companies in the advanced advertising business have formed the TV Data Initiative, a group that will look to accelerate the use of data in the television industry.
The group includes Dish Media, Blockgraph, MadHive, VideoAmp, Eyeota and TVSquared and plans to spend the next six months assessing the state of data in the advanced TV ecosystem and identify challenges and opportunities.
“We are thrilled to be participating in this critical effort to drive the TV data ecosystem forward. The next era of TV must be one defined by industry collaboration and connectivity,” said Jason Manningham, CEO of Blockgraph, a joint venture of Comcast, Charter Communications and ViacomCBS. “We need to work together to develop solutions that solve for the industry’s increasing complexity and fragmentation while at the same time addressing advertisers’ demand for data-driven capabilities in a way that always puts privacy first.”
“Dish Media is committed to an open approach within the advanced advertising industry, and that includes leveraging data for transparency and accountability,” said Kevin Arrix, senior VP of Dish Media. “As data-driven TV continues to grow, it’s increasingly important for us to find solutions that align data and identity with marketers' efforts for improved efficiency and measurability, without jeopardizing customer information.”
The initiative is being directed by Jon Watts, executive director and co-founder of The Project X Institute, and Alan Wolk, co-founder of TV[R]ev, with Jonathan Steuer, VideoAmp’s executive VP of TV strategy & currency, advising the initiative in an independent capacity.
The group intends to find clear definitions and frameworks for the industry, as well as an assessment of the potential for new collective approaches to support data sharing, matching and quality.
“Creating uniformity across the converged TV landscape is key to both unlocking the power of TV advertising and ensuring its scalable future,” said Jo Kinsella, president at TVSquared. “Through industry-wide collaboration, we can create a TV ecosystem where all sides of the trade win – from advertisers and media owners, to data providers and publishers. We are excited to be part of an initiative dedicated to making this happen.”
"MadHive has always been passionate about the power of collaboration and open source standards to solve many of our industry's toughest problems," said Adam Helfgott. CEO of MadHive. "We are excited to contribute to this innovative initiative."
