Dish Network and its virtual MVPD Sling TV are the latest to join up with Comscore’s ongoing beta trial for its new Comscore Campaign Ratings ad measurement platform.
The ad inventory for both Dish and Sling TV’s live linear programming and video on-demand will be part of the beta. Dish is the first pay TV provider to join the program, and Comscore said DISH Media’s inclusion broadens the measurement to include addressable and linear ads.
Sling TV is being added first and Dish Network will be added in the first half of 2019.
“Measurement is a vital advantage of addressable advertising, and Comscore Campaign Ratings delivers standardized, trustworthy insights into distinct audiences across multiple platforms,” said Kevin Arrix, senior vice president of DISH Media, in a statement. “We have a proud history of innovating with Comscore, most recently with the first ever cross-platform addressable advertising measurement on DISH and Sling earlier this year. Now those insights will be incorporated into a holistic picture for advertisers.”
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“Addressable is a significant part of the advertising ecosystem and there’s no doubt that part of the market will only continue to grow,” said Sarah Hofstetter, president at Comscore, in a statement. “We are excited to have Sling and DISH join the Comscore Campaign Ratings beta program to offer advertisers greater insight into their incremental audiences reached with addressable through DISH and Sling TV, in addition to their linear national network audiences. This is an important step in the solution’s evolution to make sure clients can make strategic business decisions based on the most complete view of their advertising efforts.”
Dish and Sling TV stand out as the sole distributors to join Comscore’s trials so far but the program has attracted many programmers already. Last month A+E Networks, AMC Networks and Discovery Inc. all joined the trial. When the beta originally kicked off in September, it had ABC, CBS, CNN, Disney, Fox, Freeform, GroupM, NBCUniversal, The CW Network, Turner and Viacom on board.
Comscore CEO Bryan Wiener said the program has been growing on a company-by-company basis as Comscore works to acclimate distributors and programmers to a new way of doing advertising business.
“This is a currency product, meaning that when it’s actually out of beta these networks will be selling inventory with guarantees against Comscore numbers. So, they have to get comfortable with it,” Wiener said.