Chief Revenue Officer Steve Sottile looks to the future of TV and OTT advertising, and how the introduction of VIDAA’s ACR data into our platform will benefit advertisers and publishers
Today, Tremor International announced it has signed a deal with VIDAA, a smart TV operating system and content platform. VIDAA is preinstalled on most TVs manufactured by Hisense, considered one of the top TV manufacturers in the world, and also integrated into a number of premium original equipment manufacturers (OEM) including Toshiba. Through the deal Tremor International’s technology platform, including the Unruly SSP, will gain exclusive access to VIDAA’s automatic content recognition (ACR) data, both in the US and internationally.
I sat down with Steve Sottile, Unruly’s Chief Revenue Officer, to find out what this exclusive deal means for Unruly’s advertising and publishing partners.
What exactly is ACR data and why is it important?
ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) data identifies the content and ads that are being watched on a smart TV, inclusive of linear television. Based on what a consumer is watching and trends that can be formed based on their viewing habits, advertisers are able to target their audiences more effectively. A key benefit of ACR data is that it is consumer-privacy-compliant due to it being fully opt-in, and usage of this data does not rely on cookies.
On a global level, the number of households that own a smart TV is massive, so the scale of deterministic household data that ACR data can provide is invaluable. What’s great about this partnership with VIDAA is that we not only have exclusive access to data from Hisense TVs, but also OEMs like Toshiba and other major players that leverage the VIDAA OS.
As the SSP in Tremor International’s end-to-end solution, how does this exclusive data partnership benefit Unruly’s partners?
From a buyer perspective, this is both another strong enhancement to our TV Intelligence solution, which already provides a robust mix of set-top box and streaming data, and an opportunity to better plan and measure their linear and non-linear campaigns side-by-side on the open web.
Unfortunately, the rise in popularity of ACR data has laid the foundation for an increasing number of walled gardens, which is a major disservice to advertisers. There is audience duplication and a fragmentation of CTV and linear planning and measurement. Being able to access ACR data from a variety of OEMs and activate that data across a robust footprint of premium supply is a huge benefit for advertisers.
And for publishers?
As an end-to-end solution, Tremor International is able to drive even more unique demand for publishers through our direct and third-party demand channels. We’re bringing an invaluable differentiated data offering to advertisers, and publishers are going to see how that positively impacts their revenue stream.
On a global level, how does this benefit Unruly’s partners outside of the US?
This partnership will give our international partners access to ACR data that didn’t previously exist and will expand our market-leading TV intelligence solution from the US into their markets. VIDAA has a global reach of 20M smart TVs, and with the integration of their data into our TV Intelligence solution, our international partners will be able to plan and measure their linear and CTV campaigns better than ever before.
What kind of smart TV do you have at home?
I am a great example of the fragmentation happening in households right now. I have a LG TV in my living room, a Hisense TV in my basement, and a Samsung TV in my family room. All of those OEM companies are counting me as a TV in their household, so that just goes to show you how much duplication there is!
