VideoAmp has acquired the automated campaign management platform Elsy, a move designed to further scale and accelerate the adoption of its measurement and currency solution as an alternative to Nielsen. In this way, advertisers can optimize their advertising dollars by placing their commercials across multiple media platforms.
VideoAmp gained notable attention over the past few months for its collaboration with media agencies and TV networks working to measure video audiences, an increasingly difficult task. In its latest move, VideoAmp hopes to simplify that challenging task. However, the company did not disclose the terms of the deal.
VideoAmp uses cross-screen TV measurement and attribution technology and has been riding a wave of broadcaster discontent with Nielsen. However, clients need more than just a different currency. CEO Ross McCray of VideoAmp told Adexchanger that the feedback from the clients was that their methodology is too manual. Hence, it was taking too long for clients, especially on the buy side, to test and operationalize different metrics throughout the purchase funnel with their partners and, from there, plan media campaigns accordingly.
Within an increasingly fragmented media ecosystem, there is a growing need to centralize solutions and automate campaign planning. A particular challenge for marketers is measuring deduplicated reach and outcome-focused metrics, such as brand lift and sales.
Interesting read: Here, There, Everywhere, It Is Cross-Screen Advertising!
The rationale behind the acquisition is that it claims to be “measurement agnostic” and able to optimize across all media sources. Elsy will reduce latency and time-consuming manual operations, while also eliminating the disconnect of measurement from day-to-day decisioning, taking the guesswork out of the equation and providing a holistic understanding of a campaign in unprecedented ways. It will integrate with VideoAmp to algorithmically provide recommendations for media optimization. Its software tracks and analyzes campaigns through the entire funnel, ranging from reach, frequency, programmatic retargeting, and eCommerce conversions and sales. Elsy CEO and Co-Founder, Laurent Colard, now SVP of Product at VideoAmp said,
“The level of data-driven insight and guidance generated for media professionals when we pair our technology and algorithms with VideoAmp’s current planning, optimization and measurement software is something the market has not previously had access to.”
Consumers are migrating away from stand-alone linear TV and have adopted streaming, the on-demand video that might be watched on a service like Netflix or Paramount+, or via YouTube or a network’s own offerings. Currently, the job of measurement has become extremely crucial. Even Nielsen trying to gain back its industry accreditation for its national rating system while introducing a new product that it says will allow advertisers and television networks to do better targeting. Meanwhile, TV networks are linking up with companies like VideoAmp to develop “alternative currencies” to those long devised by using Nielsen ratings.
VideoAmp’s data is being tested by media agencies and programmers including Paramount and Discovery. McCray said that participants in the tests said that most of their time was spent manually inputting the new currency because their systems aren’t set up to handle it. Two things were requested- the ability to ensure results and budget tracking to support it. Cray explains how the acquisition will correct these problems,
“With this acquisition we’re doubling down on our position and saying we’re not only providing measurement, attribution and currency, but we’re also driving more of the automation for campaign management because that is going to accelerate the adoption of our measurement.”
Elsy will enable advertisers to forecast consumer activity and determine if they should move their ad money between different platforms. McCray stated to Adexchanger that “Currency is a nightmare to track manually.” The aim is to integrate “some of the material pieces of the workflow ” by next year, but “a good deal” will happen over the next six months.
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