MediaRadar partners with PlayOn to boost streaming ad analytics

MediaRadar inked a strategic partnership with PlayOn to leverage data from video captured on the latter’s streaming recording platform to boost its advertising analytics product.

The relationship is a first for PlayOn, which hasn’t opened its cloud-based streaming video capture platform to third parties before, with MediaRadar marking its initial commercial partner. Previously PlayOn has been a consumer-only product, allowing users to watch streaming videos on their PC, mobile device or connected TV any time, even offline. The new partnership reflects the launch of its commercial line of business.

As for MediaRadar, the company already tracks which brands are advertising across more than 25 streaming platforms, with analysis that summarizes OTT data covering overall and category trends in ad spend including major platforms like Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+, Netflix, Disney+, Peacock and Pluto TV.

One benefit MediaRadar anticipates from leveraging PlayOn’s panel of viewers is a better understanding of geographic ad placement. PlayOn’s video recording platform detects and tags the start and end time of each ad commercial break, which MediaRadar said will allow it to funnel its resources more efficiently on just the ad content of each video. PlayOn is also looking to expand commercial applications.

“We are excited to announce MediaRadar as PlayOn’s first commercial partner to benefit from the opening of our cloud-based streaming video capture platform to third parties”, boasts PlayOn CEO Jeff Lawrence, in a statement. “We think the opportunities for analytics companies to leverage the platform are vast, and we are excited to see the commercial applications that arise from it.”

Some of those additional use cases utilizing the PlayOn platform include audio fingerprinting for Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), AI-based visual analysis and scene detection, and generation of rich content and sentiment metadata. The two partners are also investigating avenues to use the PlayOn platform and consumer user base for advanced advertising data and analytics.

“MediaRadar is always seeking new, better, and increasingly granular methods of collecting and analyzing OTT Media advertising data to improve the valuable insights we provide to our clients,” said MediaRadar CEO Todd Krizelman in a statement. “Our partnership with PlayOn adds another data source to strengthen our OTT insights portfolio and increase the accuracy and value of our analytics.”

MediaRadar is enhancing its streaming advertising analytics at a time when viewers are continuing to turn to less expensive and free ad-supported options for TV services while more streamers are pursuing ad-supported models to drive revenue. A recent Horowitz Research report found nearly 7 in 10, or 69%, of TV content viewers in the U.S. are using free streaming services at least monthly, marking a stark increase from the 42% who were doing so in 2019.  Horowitz attributed the growth to the number of free ad-supported streaming or FAST TV services, with a consumer survey pegging Peacock, Tubi, Pluto TV and YouTube as the most-used free services.

“The data from this year’s study points to some important opportunities for both media companies and consumers,” commented Adriana Waterston, chief revenue officer and Insights & Strategy lead for Horowitz Research, in a statement. “The adoption of AVOD/FAST services — and the concomitant increase in streaming ad revenue we can expect to see — will help offset revenue loss on the linear side, which is critical as programming costs continue to skyrocket.”

In terms of U.S. ad revenue, a March forecast from Magna anticipates all-media ad revenue to increase by 3.4% in 2023 to reach $326 billion. While that’s slower growth than its previous December forecast of 3.7%, one area that’s expected to increase significantly is AVOD and FAST channels. Magna anticipates the AVOD and FAST ad revenue market will likely rise 21.2% this year. The report pointed to the expansion of AVOD and FAST, and Netflix and Disney+ ad-supported launches in particular, as enabling brands to reconnect with demographics that are “increasingly hard and expensive to reach” through linear TV.