Paramount Global is teaming up with iSpot.tv to offer more transparency into consumers’ responses to ads — its latest partnership with a Nielsen competitor.
iSpot’s new measurement offering, Outcomes at Scale, will enable “conversion-rate tracking” that will allow brands to see which programs, day parts and audience segments generate the best response to ad campaigns. It will also provide an almost immediate view into how ad impressions connect to a brand’s key sales performance metrics, such as store visits, online activity, ticket purchases and more.
The media giant will be the first to invest, embrace and integrate the offering into its ad sales and advanced audience product offering.
“The ability to deliver automated outcomes seamlessly across platforms is incredibly transformative,” Paramount executive vice president of advanced advertising Travis Scoles said in a statement. “While traditional metrics like [gross rating points] remain important, they often serve as proxies for impact. Delivering proof of performance at scale is the roadmap for the future of the industry.”
“Offering attribution at scale doesn’t just speed up the time to critical insight for brands and enable better in-flight optimizations, it can change the buying process from a conversation about reach to one about impact,” iSpot Media EVP Stu Schwartzapfel added. “Now, instead of waking up and checking how campaigns are pacing for on-target reach, buyers can see how investments are performing as campaigns progress and allocate dollars on what’s working.”
The launch of the new tool comes as media companies are gearing up for upfront season in May, where they host lavish presentations for advertisers that feature upcoming content and their rosters of talent.
In recent years, Paramount has skipped the traditional upfronts in favor of smaller one-on-one meetings with advertisers. Last year, Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy said linear volume trends were “in line” with 2023 and that its cost per thousand impressions, or CPMs, were up, driven by sports and broadcast. On the digital side, Paramount secured upfront commitments in excess of $1 billion across its streaming portfolio.
In addition to iSpot.tv, Paramount recently renewed its ratings measurement partnership with VideoAmp, which served as an interim fix while it negotiated a new contract with Nielsen.
After a four-month standoff, Paramount and Nielsen struck a multi-year renewal agreement in February, which includes measurement for all Paramount platforms, including national and local broadcast, all cable networks, and streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Paramount has also agreed to license Nielsen services including advance audiences, big data + panel measurement, ad-supported streaming platform ratings, Nielsen ONE ads for connected television and its national out-of-home expansion to inform advertising, programming and licensing strategies.
