Dolan Family Ventures, the newly formed investment fund run by former Cablevision Systems executives Kristin and James Dolan, has pulled the trigger on its first acquisition and has launched its first company.
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That new company, called 605, emerges following the acquisition of Analytics Media Group (AMG), a New York-based data analytics specialist.
605, also based in New York, said it will combine AMG’s analytics and technology platform and set-top box data to provide clients with the kind of information that can help them develop targeted, optimized ad and media campaigns.
The aim of 605, said company founder and CEO Kristin Dolan, centers on “the opportunity to make TV more impactful – having the right data and the right analysis to drive more effective advertising.”
Among the execs joining Kristin Dolan at 605 are company president Ben Tatta, most recently president of Cablevision Media Sales, and EVP of client solutions Chauncey McLean, AMG’s co-founder and chief revenue officer. 605 has just under 50 employees.
Update:Per the 605 website, other members of the leadership team include other execs who are late of Cablevision -- Ray Casazza (SVP of finance and administration), Colleen Moraghan (SVP of data solutions), and Charlstie Veith (SVP of marketing and communications).
And the significance of the number? 605, we’re told, is code for “DCV,” or Data Co. Ventures, the original project name of Dolan Family Ventures. DCV is also the Roman numeral equivalent of 605.
AMG rose to fame in 2008 for using analytics and set-top data for the 2008 Obama campaign (and worked with the campaign again in 2012), and Walmart is one of its key clients today. AMG had also done some work for Cablevision Systems, which wrapped up its sale to Altice in June.
“It’s a great acquisition for us,” Dolan said, noting that she has had her eyes on AMG for a couple of years. “It’s a combination of really strong, smart young talent, and they have some IP [intellectual property] that we find really interesting, and they have some strong client relationships.”
Moving forward, 605 will focus on clients spanning MVPDs, programmers and ad agencies.
While MVPDs have their own inventory, they are also big consumers of paid media, Dolan said. Major TV networks, meanwhile, are focused on using data and analytics to create customer segmentation and targeting. That same data, she added, can also be valuable to smaller programmers that are trying to get a better fix on the makeup of their viewership. 605 will also work with individual advertisers as well as agencies to optimize their media buys.
"We're very neutral because we're never going to sell media,” said Dolan, who most recently was COO of Cablevision. “The data tells what the data tells, and we can help [our clients] craft custom media plans."
Though others use set-top data and analytics to help with ad targeting and media plan optimization, 605 will look to stand apart by leaning on census-level, authenticated data a platform from AMG that covers 120 million homes underpinned by segmentation profiles built around more than 1,500 different attributes.
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“With addressable [advertising] becoming more and more prevalent, there’s an opportunity for people to take the insight and do on television what they’ve been able to do on digital for a long time,” Dolan said.
