Viacom has signed a deal with TiVo Research and Analytics to use the DVR maker's data from its 2.3 million set-tops in Viacom's ad sales.
Under the agreement, Viacom will integrate TiVo data into Viacom Vantage, the media conglomerate's data tool that allows advertisers to target their buys based on consumer habits.
TiVo Research's suite of single-source measurement tools will integrate with Viacom's predictive engine to enhance its precision and consumer-targeting capabilities. It's the first time TiVo has made such an agreement with a media company.
"This integration will make Viacom the first network to offer advertisers true single-source solutions for audience targeting and measurement," said Frank Foster, senior VP and GM of TiVo Research. "The combination of Viacom's advanced predictive engine and TiVo's anonymized, granular set-top box data, matched directly to purchase and consumer engagement data in a privacy protected manner, allows advertisers to see much more than if their campaign was viewed."
The deal provides Viacom with more data that can help increase the impact of its custom campaigns and further expands the unique analytics delivered to the conglomerate's advertising partners.
"Viacom Vantage is on a mission to transform TV advertising through advanced targeting and prediction," said Bryson Gordon, senior VP of data strategy for Viacom "The integration of TiVo's single source database significantly enhances our data capabilities across our advanced advertising products, Vantage, Velocity and Echo, delivering truly unique value to our customers."
A number of media companies have tools like Vantage that help them offer targeting to brand clients. Media buyers have told Adweek, however, that Viacom Vantage is one of their three favorite targeting tools alongside NBCUniversal's Audience Targeting Platform and Turner's Data Cloud.
The new partnership follows TiVo's announcement two weeks ago that it would offer for free the demographic ratings data gathered on its more than 2 million set-top boxes, starting in the first quarter of 2016.
"We don't think anyone should have to pay for the most basic data we provide -- demographic TV ratings," TiVo said in its posting. "We're much more interested in helping you improve your business and overcome the real challenges you face in a way that other sources of ratings data never will. We do this with anonymized individual household-level viewing data from more than two million homes, directly matched to online exposure and purchase data."
TiVo isn't the only company looking to cash in on its set-top data. Comcast is in talks with media conglomerates and audience-measurement firms about licensing the viewer data on its set-tops, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal.
For more:
- read this TiVo/Viacom joint press release
- read this Adweek story
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