Andre Swanston, CEO of Tru Optik, argued that there’s been one big obstacle to advertising on Internet-connected TVs — measurement.
Naturally, Swanston is pitching Tru Optik’s technology as the solution. The company started out by measuring how video content gets shared through peer-to-peer file sharing, but has since expanded into a broader measurement solution, with products like its own data management platform. Now it’s launching a new service to help media companies and advertisers measure the viewership on Internet-connected TV apps, with help from data provider Experian Marketing Services.
Swanston said we’re going to be seeing more media companies launching their own connected TV apps, since “there’s no technological barrier to entry.”
“The economics are changing such that you’re going to be seeing a lot more people focusing their energy on that,” he added.
However, Swanston said that the leaders in TV and online measurement haven’t created “a real, viable over-the-top measurement solution,” and other online measurement products still largely rely on cookies and SDK — methods that don’t really work across devices or transfer to connected TVs.
Tru Optik, on the other hand, has created what Swanston described as “a household-level device graph.” In other words, it has created a unique (but anonymized) identifier for each household, allowing it to see when multiple devices are used by one family, and then track content consumption across those devices. On top of that, it’s using Experian data to understand audience demographics and purchase behavior.
Swanston added that Tru Optik isn’t just for helping track ad impressions, but can also more broadly help media companies show the value of their videos for things like product placement and licensing. And for consumers, he suggested that this approach is better for privacy, as it lets you opt out of certain types of targeting at a household level.