NEW YORK — A company that seeks to thrive by “measuring every second of TV and Connected TV viewer engagement” has closed an investment round in the millions of dollars.
The strategic investment round is designed to accelerate person-level panel measurement for streaming, a move that TVision says advances the standards for unified ratings across linear and Connected TV for the company.
A key rival to Nielsen led the investment round.
As TVision sees it, the infusion of $16 million will help fund “the continued transformation and modernization of accurate, person-level panel measurement.”
The round was led by a strategic investment from iSpot, the real-time TV measurement company and new currency provider. Continued support from SIG Capital, Accomplice, and Golden Ventures was also seen in the investment round.
The new round brings TVision’s total funds raised to over $58 million.
In a statement, the company says the financing “is recognition that TVision’s patented technology for passively measuring people in a room and their eyes-on-screen attention to ads and programming across both TV and CTV has gained adoption.”
The strategic investment includes expanded licensing terms that make iSpot the lone measurement company able to utilize co-viewing to accurately personify Connected TV audiences for ratings across 900+ streaming apps and publishers using TVision’s proprietary streaming audience panel.
“The investment builds on a long-standing relationship between iSpot and TVision to measure co-viewing and person-level metrics for linear TV and will support iSpot’s trusted, cross-platform currencies for all video,” TVision said.
As a part of the investment, iSpot CEO and founder Sean Muller will join the TVision board.
VAB President/CEO Sean Cunningham noted, “The $90 billion TV and Connected TV marketplace cannot transact on methods developed decades ago and expect to give today’s advertisers real visibility into how multiscreen TV drives their very modern brand KPIs. The industry needs ever-more investment in new technologies capable of capturing the reach, engagement, and audience insights that boost advertiser confidence in escalating their ad investment with multiscreen TV publishers. We applaud the work iSpot and TVision have done to advance the industry and are encouraged by the investments each is making to develop more accurate and representative cross-platform measurement capabilities.”
Also chiming in: Former Nielsen executive who today is perhaps her former employer’s key detractor, Kelly Abcarian, today EVP of Measurement and Impact at NBCUniversal. “Combining iSpot’s massive panel with TVision’s modern approach to counting real people helps advertisers measure co-viewing across linear and CTV with greater accuracy across households and diverse audiences. A cross-platform currency, based on the exact ad and powered by fast and accurate co-viewing metrics, will also bring a completely new approach to valuing premium content.”
For TVision CEO Yan Liu, “Future video currencies that leverage both census and panel data will provide the industry with a more accurate understanding of who is really watching TV regardless of how that content gets to the screen. TVision has pioneered a new approach and put the infrastructure in place to transform how co-viewing and personification of audiences work for the TV industry. Together with great customers and the latest strategic investment round from iSpot, we’re positioned to help fuel a new, more transparent, and open TV ecosystem.”
Sean Muller, CEO and founder of iSpot, commented, “Our investment in TVision is an investment in the future of CTV and cross-platform TV currencies. We applaud the innovations of TVision in building the home panel of the future, and are looking forward to more advancements from TVision fueled by our investment.”
In addition to New York, TVision also has offices in Boston and Tokyo.
Founded in Bellevue, Washington in 2012, iSpot has offices in major cities across America.
