iSpot, a TV measurement company seeking to serve as an alternative to Nielsen, has earned its first Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation.
The accreditation is for the ability to accurately identify, verify and track national TV ad occurrences across 178 linear and broadcast networks.
iSpot first introduced its real-time system for TV ad cataloging in 2012, and has provided “complete ad-level transparency” to brands, agencies and networks for more than 2 million unique creatives to date across 63,672 brands and 179 industries. iSpot’s TV ad occurrence data is the basis for a myriad of applications that help advertisers verify, optimize and justify ad investments.
Commenting on the accreditation, iSpot said, “As the TV industry moves to a multi-platform ecosystem and ad inventory becomes more dynamic across streaming platforms, iSpot’s investment in the accreditation of this aspect of its ad catalog provides the industry with a fast baseline of truth for traditional national inventories which serve as a basis for critical cross-platform measurement.”
Company founder and CEO Sean Muller commented, “We sought accreditation of our national ad occurrence data based on our TV ad cataloging system because we know it to be the most robust, fastest and best solution of its kind for the marketplace, but also because it’s the unshakable foundation for so many products the industry is using to make transaction decisions.”
In addition, iSpot notes, the accreditation “provides more assurances for the buy and sell sides in reconciling brand guidelines attached to ad investment — including verification of pod placement, competitive juxtaposition and daypart, program and frequency commitments.”
Muller noted, “iSpot is proud to achieve this milestone, as it signifies not just an historic accomplishment for our company, but one that the entire industry can benefit from. Having trusted, transparent and independently verified measurement starts with being able to deliver data —reliably, quickly and at scale — to drive value to the entire media ecosystem as it shifts from program-based measurement to an ad-centric model.”
George W. Ivie, MRC Executive Director and CEO, said, “iSpot’s newly accredited ad occurrence reporting helps to serve a crucial market need, and users can now have assurance that it meets the high bar necessary to achieve MRC accreditation.”
