After more than a month of relative silence, media companies are now crossing the upfront finish line once again.
WWE's John Cena at Nickelodeon Upfront 2018
On the heels of Discovery, Inc., wrapping its negotiations, another major cable portfolio—Viacom—has also put the finishing touches on this year’s upfront market.
Heading into this year’s upfront with a new network (Paramount, formerly known as Spike) and several recent acquisitions like Whosay and VidCon, Viacom put questions about its future aside to secure upfront CPM (cost per thousand viewers reached) increases in the mid-to-high single digits for its non-kids networks and double-digit growth among its Nickelodeon networks (including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons and TeenNick).
It was Viacom’s strongest upfront pricing increases in a decade, sources close to negotiations revealed to Adweek.
Buyers responded to the company’s increased digital capabilities, with strong demand for Viacom Digital Studios, which made its NewFronts debut this year. The company quadrupled the upfront deals for its Viacom Vantage data platform.
There was also robust interest in MTV’s momentum, with shows like Jersey Shore Family Vacation.
Viacom’s upfront haul was bolstered by movie studios, which are increasing their spend across the company’s portfolio. Last year, in the first upfront under ad sales chief Sean Moran and CEO Robert Bakish, the company saw high single-digit increases and positive volume growth.
For the second straight year, Viacom skipped big upfront presentations, other than its Nickelodeon event, for intimate agency dinners, during which the network presidents, Moran and Bakish made their pitch to marketers.
Those Presidents Dinners focused on how far Viacom had come in the past year and not on parent company National Amusement’s efforts to re-merge Viacom and CBS (which has led to a legal battle between CBS and National Amusements).
Sean Moran
Regardless of how things shake out with CBS, Moran told Adweek in April, “We’re excited about our own position, because we feel like we’re in a much stronger position this year than we were last year and how all the brands and the flagship six are doing, both from a ratings perspective and a multiplatform perspective.”
In addition to its networks, Viacom successfully pushed in the upfront for partnerships with influencer marketing company Whosay, which it bought in January, as well as VidCon, which it acquired in February.
During upfront negotiations, Viacom weathered the loss of two network chiefs, each of whom had been at the company for decades. BET CEO Debra Lee departed in late May and Nickelodeon Group president Cyma Zarghami exited shortly after. Zarghami’s departure, however, seemed to have no effect on upfront talks, given Nickelodeon’s big gains this year.
Several media companies finished their upfront talks in mid-June, but until the past day, no one else had crossed the upfront finish line since CBS did so a month ago.
Discovery has also just completed its upfront talks. However, several other companies, including NBCUniversal, Turner and ABC have yet to wrap their upfront negotiations.
Viacom and Movio Partnership Transforms How Film Studios Use Data to Reach Moviegoers
Viacom Vantage Adds Movio’s Comprehensive Audience Data To Deliver Industry’s Most Effective Movie Marketing Campaigns Across Viacom’s Media Networks
Scenes from Nickelodeon Movies' upcoming theatrical film, Amusement Park
NEW YORK AND AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (March 13, 2018) – Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB, VIA) and Movio, the global leader in marketing data analytics and campaign management solutions for the film industry, have entered into a partnership that combines the power of Movio’s comprehensive moviegoer data with Viacom Vantage’s renowned advanced advertising capabilities. Viacom is the only media company to connect Movio’s extensive consumer data to set-top box viewing data, providing film studios with the unprecedented ability to deliver marketing campaigns at scale with more precision and impact than ever before.
“We’re excited to join forces with Movio to introduce the most sophisticated television targeting for movie marketers available,” said Bryson Gordon, Executive Vice President of Advanced Advertising, Viacom. “The ability for studio advertisers to identify and reach persuadable audiences in our premium content environment is a distinctively powerful tool to drive strong box office results.”
Movio’s global moviegoer database is unmatched in scale, depth and breadth, comprising of over 750 million behavioral and transactional records, including online and offline purchase behavior, on more than 100 million moviegoers across all ages and demographic groups in 36 countries for more than 5,000 film titles.
“Viacom shares our vision to transform data driven movie marketing,” said Movio Chief Executive and Co-Founder Will Palmer. “Armed with Movio’s advanced targeting insights, movie marketers will be able to reach the ideal audience across the Viacom portfolio of media assets. This level of accuracy, coupled with access to Viacom’s premier brands, creates a unique opportunity for film studios to maximise the effectiveness of their ad spend.”
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling entertainment content – including television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, games, consumer products, podcasts, live events and social media experiences – for audiences in 183 countries. Viacom’s media networks, including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, VH1, TV Land, CMT, Logo, Channel 5 (UK), Telefe (Argentina), Colors (India) and Paramount Channel, reach approximately 4.3 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. Paramount Television develops, finances and produces original programming for television and digital platforms.
About Movio
Movio is the global leader in marketing data analytics and campaign management solutions, revolutionizing the way the film industry interacts with moviegoers. With a global database of over 100 million moviegoers, 750 million behavioral and transactional records and more than 5000 movie titles, Movio is the world’s most comprehensive source of moviegoer data. A company of Vista Group International Ltd (NZX & ASX: VGL), Movio’s investment in data science and machine learning has produced market-leading technologies that redefine the possibilities of movie marketing. Movio empowers marketers to connect moviegoers with their ideal movie via online and offline channels, and link campaign data with actual ticket purchases to close the loop and measure campaign effectiveness.
Viacom x Movio: Driving Big Screen Buzz With Data | Viacom
A new partnership between Viacom Vantage and marketing analytics firm Movio makes it possible for studio marketers to build target audiences based on movie preference or audience trends based on online and offline transactions. With this title-level data, Vantage can create highly customized marketing campaigns that appear across Viacom's digital, social, and television platforms.
Not everyone wants to buy a ticket for a film’s opening weekend. How our Movio partnership helps marketers predict moviegoer behavior.
Read more at V by Viacom: http://bit.ly/2FTt8pu
Viacom x Movio: Imagine the possibilities
Our new partnership with Movio helps movie marketers create targeted campaigns to reach the right audience at the right time. Learn how on V by Viacom. Read more here: http://bit.ly/2FTt8pu
Bryson Gordon on why Viacom decided to partner with Movio
Infrequent moviegoers are crucial for box office success. See how our Movio partnership helps movie marketers reach them on V by Viacom. ead more here: http://bit.ly/2FTt8pu
Viacom, Movio Launch Targeted Movie Studio Trailers
Viacom is partnering with data analytics firm Movio on a new marketing offering that it claims will help movie studios goose ticket sales.
Companies that are hoping to convince TV watchers and streamers to head out to the multiplexes can now better target their ad campaigns, the partners claim. Viacom has started to use Movio’s information on moviegoer’s habits to augment Vantage, its in-house data-driven tool. Since launching in 2015, Vantage has provided consumer targeting that’s analogous to what digital platforms offer advertisers, enabling them to have a deeper understanding of which types of content will perform best for specific client initiatives across Viacom brands such as MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, and Nickelodeon.
Viacom is the only media company to connect Movio’s extensive consumer data to set-top box viewing data, providing film studios with the ability to deliver marketing campaigns with more precision. The service is open to any movie studio, not just Viacom’s Paramount Pictures. In an interview, Bryson Gordon, EVP of advanced advertising at Viacom, said that the data is so refined that it allows studios to ensure that their trailers are being seen by people who bought tickets to a specific cluster of films.
“It’s ensuring that you’re getting your ad in front of the audience that can turn your major motion picture into a blockbuster,” said Gordon.
The companies joined forces after Viacom became aware that very little data exists on the consumer behavior of moviegoers. Studios have long leaned on big national television campaigns out of necessity, believing that reaches the broadest audience possible with their trailers and posters is the only way to attract the group of people most interested in seeing a film on the big screen.
“The mantra of having the right ad at the right time in the right place is very hard to accomplish in the studio category,” said Gordon.
However, as Viacom’s team struggled with that issue they stumbled across Movio, a New Zealand-based company that maintains a data set of information on more than 100 million moviegoers across different ages and demographic groups in 36 countries. It includes consumer ticketing information on more than 5,000 film titles.
“Studios tend to rely on broad assumptions about who is going to turn up to see competitive titles,” said Craig Jones, Movio’s chief commercial officer. “Because of the data we’ve been collecting over time, we have unrivaled insight into the behavior of U.S. moviegoers.”
Will Palmer, Movio’s CEO and founder, said his company hopes to partner with other media companies and integrate their data into other platforms.
“We’re really challenging ourselves to think about who the audience for a film is and how to engage them at the right time so they turn up and buy a ticket,” said Palmer.
Originally published: Tuesday, March 13, 2018.Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon Movies News and Highlights!
Viacom has acquired Whosay, a specialist in social-media influence marketing, seeing the move as a way to expand the media company’s advertising versatility.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Viacom has worked closely with Whosay for more than two years, executing more than 50 campaigns featuring the likes of Lil Yachty, LeToya Luckett, and Kegan Allen. Sean Moran, Viacom’s head of sales, said that by buying Whosay the entertainment conglomerate can more deeply integrate its social expertise across the sales and marketing organization and augment the work of the Viacom Velocity branded-content group.
“We’re excited about a deeper integration with Whosay and the strength of our combined capabilities,” said Sean Moran, Viacom’s head of marketing and partner solutions. “This partnership will add to our linear, digital and mobile arsenal by bringing us further into the world of social media and shopper marketing. Together, we will offer brand partners unparalleled creative solutions that maximize the power of storytelling, influencer reach, omnichannel distribution and advanced advertising tools to create quality campaigns that drive results.
“From a social standpoint, while we’ve had some excellent work there, it’s really been focused around our tentpoles like the MTV VMAs,” added Moran. “One of the reasons we’re so excited about Whosay is, this instantly puts us into a 52-week capability to deliver social solutions [to advertising clients] with curated scale.”
Using its proprietary Match platform, Whosay pairs brands and influencers, then creates a campaign and spreads it to a targeted audience across social, digital, mobile, linear, out of home and other channels. “Experience” marketing is another arena of interest, as Viacom continues to invest in live events such as the BET Soul Train Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards.
Viacom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bob Bakish has estimated revenue from non-traditional sources — a bucket that includes everything from advanced advertising to virtual MVPD bundles — at $350 million in 2017 and predicts it could reach $1B by 2020.
Whosay was founded in 2010 by CEO Steve Ellis and CAA, originally as a media company based on an invitation-only social network for celebrities. Today, New York-based Whosay functions as a creative-marketing agency that develops and produces branded content with talent ranging from “micro-influencers” to big-name celebs.
Whosay had raised about $30 million in funding from investors including Comcast Ventures, CAA, Greylock Partners, Amazon.com, High Peaks Ventures, and China’s Tencent. Its range of services include campaign strategy, influencer talent vetting and casting, content production, distribution and performance guarantees. The company also offers in-store and point-of-sale activations for clients.
All told, Whosay has run more than 400 campaigns that have generated over 5 billion impressions and 900 million-plus user engagements, according to the company. It distributes content across multiple platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
Recent Whosay campaigns have featured Vanessa Williams for Aveeno; Darren Criss for AT&T; Tia Mowry (Sister, Sister, Instant Mom) for Oreo; Alec Baldwin for Chevrolet; Brynn Rumfallo (“Dance Moms”) for Pantene; Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) for Hellmann’s; Christian Navarro (13 Reasons Why) for McDonald’s; and former NFL players DeMarcus Ware and Emmitt Mmith for Dr Pepper and Kingsford.
Whosay’s Ellis said his company doesn’t operate a “network” of influencers. Instead, it creates custom content from scratch — from concept through to enlisting talent and distributing the finished product. “Our mission has been trying to improve the marketing experience on a mobile phone,” he said.
With Whosay, Viacom will be able to create campaigns built around Viacom intellectual property, Moran said, including show talent as well as characters like SpongeBob SquarePants. Whosay will also complement Viacom’s existing advertising assets, including Velocity, an integrated marketing and creative unit, and help Viacom’s new digital studios unit under president Kelly Day — who came on board last fall from AwesomenessTV — in monetizing short-form content, he said.
As part of Viacom, Whosay will remain in its current offices in New York and L.A. operating as an independent organization collaborating with Viacom’s Marketing & Partner Solutions group. Whosay has 72 employees, who will remain with the company under Viacom’s ownership.
Ellis, before starting Whosay, was founder and CEO of Pump Audio, a digital music-rights company acquired in 2007 by Getty Images.
Official Viacom Inc. Press Release via Business Wire:
Viacom and American Express Form Exclusive Partnership and Launch a First-of-Its-Kind Data-Driven Ad Product, “Vantage Intent, powered by AmEx”
Newest Vantage Product Brings Predictive Purchase Intent to Television in an Unparalleled Way
May 17, 2016 09:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) and American Express today announced an exclusive targeted television advertising partnership that will combine American Express’ powerful data capabilities with Viacom Vantage, the industry-leading predictive and targeting engine. The new product, Vantage Intent, powered by AmEx, will bring deep insights to marketers about consumer purchase intent while scaling across television, digital, and social. Vantage Intent, powered by AmEx is available for the 2016 Upfront.
“Amex’s unique closed-loop analysis will give Vantage Intent, powered by AmEx the ability to do something unprecedented -- forecast commercial intent before it has formed and target the right moment in time to reach people,” said Kern Schireson, EVP, Data Strategy and Consumer Intelligence. “With this partnership, Viacom again furthers its competitive lead as we bring advertisers access to powerful predictive insights that provide extraordinary impact at scale across all screens on Viacom’s brands.”
Vantage Intent, powered by AmEx is predicated on cutting-edge proprietary analysis and modeling from both companies. Using advanced analytical models, American Express will analyze the vast majority of the $1 trillion in transactions on its closed-loop network, which have been aggregated and anonymized. The companies’ data scientists will develop predictive insights about the buying preferences and patterns of a desired consumer population. American Express is sharing anonymized forecasts and models - not personal data - to ensure that card member privacy is protected.
From these insights, Viacom and American Express will create advanced audience segments for advertisers that optimize ad placements to target audiences across Viacom channels using its proprietary targeting engine that can anticipate consumer intent before it is made.
“For years, insights from American Express closed-loop data have been the foundation for personalizing internal and third-party marketing programs that connect our merchants with millions of Card Members around the world,” said Manish Gupta, EVP, Global Information Management & Data Products, American Express. “Now, with Viacom, we are helping provide advertisers similar insights to reach segments beyond the American Express customer base. At a time when marketers are searching to target viewers beyond age and gender, our analytics will help them break through all the static to reach the right audience with the right message.”
Vantage Intent, powered by AmEx was announced today at the industry’s first-ever Datafront, organized and hosted by Viacom. The Datafront explores fundamental shifts in the media landscape and the impact an increasingly convergent ecosystem has on consumers and marketers.
Vantage Intent, powered by AmEx is the latest addition to Viacom’s suite of industry-leading predictive and targeting products, and further distinguishes the leadership both Viacom and American Express have in the data-driven marketing arena.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.5 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility information: charge and credit cards, business credit cards, Plenti rewards program, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, corporate card, business travel and corporate responsibility.
Original Viacom Inc. Press Release via Business Wire:
Viacom Vantage Unveils First Data-Driven TV Ad Product Exclusively for Movie Studios
“Vantage Studio Edition” Becomes the First Industry-Specific Offering in the Marketplace and Further Expands the Vantage Suite of Data-Driven Ad Solutions
Data Shows That Exposure to a Single TV Ad Increased Ticket Sales by 70% While No Ad Exposure On TV Showed Sales 59% Below Average
April 28, 2016 09:32 AM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom (NASDAQ:VIAB, VIA) today unveiled Vantage Studio Edition, the first data-driven marketing solution purpose-built for the movie industry. Vantage Studio Edition uniquely offers precision plus reach, deploying data to find target audiences while maintaining broad awareness.
“Movie studios are enthusiastic about Vantage Studio Edition because they no longer have to sacrifice targeting for scale – this product is designed to deliver both with maximum impact,” said Bryson Gordon, SVP Data Strategy. “The introduction of this new matched dataset gives studio marketers an unprecedented level of control and optimization in their marketing plans, while also delivering broad awareness for their film.”
Using title-level movie ticket purchase data matched with household viewing behaviors, Vantage has tuned its predictive engine to meet the specific needs of studio marketers. Studio Edition can identify the most qualified impressions for a specific movie campaign while also maximizing broad reach and awareness.
Vantage Studio Edition has pre-built instant audiences to help studios quickly target specific genres, such as comedy, family, sci-fi, horror, action, and consistent moviegoers, while also enabling marketers to bring their own first-party segments from data management platforms to optimize their media plans.
Recent research using the integrated dataset showed the power of television to deliver ticket sales:
- Exposure to a single television ad increased ticket sales by 70% while no ad exposure on television showed sales 59% below average.
- Advertising on Viacom outperformed competitive networks by 72% and when people saw a combination of trailer ads plus Velocity Integrated Marketing, the purchase rate increases 3.7 times.
As the Upfront season begins, Vantage Studio Edition expands the Vantage suite of data-driven ad solutions offered by the Marketing & Partner Solutions division. The recently launched products can stand alone, but also have a strategic connection to each other. Products include:
- Vantage Instant Audience - makes the power of Vantage accessible to a broader array of clients by simplifying the data-driven targeting process
- Target Discovery - uses sophisticated data-mining techniques to help marketers identify “persuadables,” the consumers who are not currently using a particular brand but have the propensity to be receptive to the advertiser’s messaging
- Velocity Content Network - a virtual network of custom creative branded content programs informed by data that will be distributed across social platforms and can include linear television
- Viewprint - enhances the level of visibility into consumer segments and helps focus creative aspects of a campaign
- Echo Social Graph 2.0 - which measures effectiveness of a social-by-design campaign
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.5 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom.
Original Viacom Inc. Press Release via Business Wire:
comScore and Viacom Ink Transformational Multi-Year Deal for Cross-Platform Measurement
First Post-Merger Cross-Platform Deal for comScore Marks a Turning Point in the Use of Advanced Currencies
Industry-Leading Viacom Vantage Expands Its Capabilities Even Further with Access to comScore's Uniquely Extensive Data, Delivering Unparalleled Value to Marketing Partners
March 18, 2016 02:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) and comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) today announced a breakthrough multi-year partnership for cross-platform measurement, which marks the first cross-platform deal for the newly merged comScore and Rentrak. The alliance represents a turning point in the business of television and advanced currency.
Viacom will have deep access to comScore's robust set of cross-platform measurement tools and advanced demographic capabilities, which span the linear TV, video-on-demand, digital, and over-the-top environments. In turn, the data will be uniquely translated by Viacom's proprietary suite of industry-leading data-driven Vantage advertising products and available for use as a currency for transacting, thereby unlocking maximum value to marketing partners by delivering the most complete view of the consumer in the industry. Entering its third year, Viacom Vantage pioneered the data-driven product arena when it was introduced and has constantly evolved to stay ahead.
"This partnership with comScore marks a fundamental watershed moment in the business of television," said Bryson Gordon, SVP Data Strategy, Viacom. "This revolution in targeting, currency and measurement is the equivalent of shifting from black and white to color. Viacom's longstanding investment in data and innovation and our unique ability to merge creativity and science has positioned us far ahead in the marketplace by delivering what partners crave – the most comprehensive view of the consumer and the most effective way to reach them."
The data for comScore's revolutionary cross-platform tools gather information from a massive footprint of the population covering more than 40 million televisions and 120 million video-on-demand users in 210 markets across the United States, in addition to more than 1.5 trillion monthly digital interactions.
comScore's rich data is augmented by visibility into associated consumer behaviors, such as shopping, leisure activity and geolocation information. When Viacom Vantage translates these many layers of data, it unlocks state-of-the-art capabilities for advertisers to target television advertising, as well as reach audiences wherever they are consuming content, and then measure the impact of their spend in unprecedented ways.
"We are excited to partner with Viacom on a deal that we believe will transform the way that advertising will be bought and sold," said Serge Matta, CEO of comScore. "Viacom's expertise in data strategy makes them an ideal first partner to leverage our cross-platform metrics and advanced demographics as a more powerful currency on which to transact. With these new capabilities, Viacom's advertising partners will be the first to benefit from a radically more efficient way of conducting business and reaching the most precise audiences imaginable."
Viacom has long pioneered the arena of innovative data-driven ad products, investing in in-house data strategy teams, research, and partnerships. The expanded suite of Vantage products launched ahead of this Upfront season includes products that transform how audience segments are built, how integrated and social marketing content is designed, and how a broad set of advertisers can adopt predictive targeting in days, not weeks. The five new proprietary products are:
Vantage Target Discovery - uses sophisticated data-mining techniques to help marketers identify "persuadables," the consumers who are not currently using a particular brand but have the propensity to be receptive to the advertiser's messaging.
Vantage Instant Audience - makes the power of Vantage accessible to a broader array of clients by simplifying the data-driven targeting process.
Viewprint - a data-driven creative map that innovates how custom marketing campaigns are developed by enhancing the level of visibility into consumer segments during ideation to inform and focus creative aspects.
Echo Social Graph 2.0 - measures the effectiveness and virality of custom creative marketing campaigns; updated to integrate Canvs' emotional analysis to deliver deeper insights about the consumer impact of a campaign.
Velocity Content Network (VCN) - a virtual network of custom creative branded content programs informed by data and distributed across social platforms. VCN weaves in Viewprint during ideation; Vantage for targeting; and, Echo Social Graph 2.0 for measurement.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.5 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a leading cross-platform measurement company that precisely measures audiences, brands and consumer behavior everywhere. comScore completed its merger with Rentrak Corporation in January 2016, to create the new model for a dynamic, cross-platform world. Built on precision and innovation, our unmatched data footprint combines proprietary digital, TV and movie intelligence with vast demographic details to quantify consumers' multiscreen behavior at massive scale. This approach helps media companies monetize their complete audiences and allows marketers to reach these audiences more effectively. With more than 3,200 clients and global footprint in more than 75 countries, comScore is delivering the future of measurement. For more information on comScore, please visit comscore.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, but not limited to, expectations regarding the impact and benefits of impact of the strategic partnership between comScore and Viacom, financial or otherwise. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to: the features and characteristics of the products, the rate of development of the digital marketing intelligence, Internet advertising and e-Commerce markets; the growth of the Internet as a medium for commerce, content, advertising and communications; and the acceptance of new products and methodologies by the industry, including existing and prospective clients.
For a detailed discussion of these and other risk factors, please refer to comScore's most recent respective Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Annual Reports on Form 10-K and from time to time other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which are available on the SEC's Web site (http://www.sec.gov).
Stockholders of comScore are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date such statements are made. comScore does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or new information after the date of this press release, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Original Viacom Inc. Press Release via Business Wire:
Furthering Its Data-Driven Marketing Solutions Lead in the Industry, Viacom Releases Two New Vantage Products – Vantage Target Discovery and Vantage Instant Audience
Game-changing Offerings – One Highly Tailored, One Turnkey - Integrate Proprietary Data
The Two New Vantage Products Join the Recently Launched Echo Social Graph 2.0, Viewprint, and Velocity Content Network for a Total of Five New Industry-Leading Innovations this Upfront Season
March 08, 2016 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) today announced Vantage Target Discovery and Vantage Instant Audience. The two new boosts to Viacom Vantage, the proprietary data-driven predictive and targeting engine, further distinguish the company's leadership in the data-driven marketing solutions arena.
Vantage Target Discovery uses sophisticated data-mining techniques to help marketers identify "persuadables," the consumers who are not currently using a particular brand but have the propensity to be receptive to the advertiser's messaging. By starting with an ideal set of goals and working backwards, Target Discovery enables marketers to take a fresh look at their potential universe of consumers.
Vantage Instant Audience makes the power of Vantage accessible to a broader array of clients by simplifying the data-driven targeting process. This turnkey product delivers audiences based on unique insights about Viacom's fans and allows for more flexible campaigns.
With the addition of Vantage Instant Audience (VIA) and Target Discovery, Viacom Marketing & Partner Solutions (formerly "Ad Sales") brings to the Upfront season a total of five of the most advanced data-driven products in the industry. All five offerings can stand alone, but also have a strategic connection to each other as exemplified by the Velocity Content Network (VCN), a virtual network of custom creative branded content programs informed by data that will be distributed across social platforms. VCN weaves in two of the other recently announced ad products: Viewprint, which enhances the level of visibility into consumer segments and helps focus creative aspects of a campaign; and, Echo Social Graph 2.0, which measures a campaign's effectiveness.
"As our five new offerings demonstrate, our world class marketing, creative and data teams work together to identify where the needs are and develop the data-driven marketing solutions that keep Viacom ahead of the industry," said Jeff Lucas, Head of Marketing & Partner Solutions, Viacom. "Brands never stop wanting to connect with our fans in authentic ways, and no one can deliver the quality and scale of those connections like we can."
These product debuts come on the heels of the partnership Viacom recently forged with Snapchat, which appointed Viacom as an ad sales partner and expanded the company's Discover channels with MTV and Comedy Central International joining the existing MTV International and Comedy Central channels.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.5 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
Viacom and TiVo Research Announce Strategic Partnership
First Partnership of Its Kind Between TiVo Research and a Media Company Provides Second-by-Second, Single-Source Platform to Advance Viacom's Proprietary Predictive Targeting and Measurement Capabilities Even Further in the Industry
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Nov 2, 2015) - TiVo Research and Analytics, a subsidiary of TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), and Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB) (NASDAQ: VIA) today announced a new strategic alliance focused on advancing Viacom's proprietary data and advertising solutions. Viacom's innovative data and ad products have led the industry in recent years with predictive tools such as Vantage and Echo Social Graph that hyper-target consumers. The first such alliance for TiVo with a media company, TiVo Research's one-of-a-kind suite of single-source measurement tools will integrate with Viacom Vantage's advanced predictive engine to augment its precision and consumer targeting capabilities. The new collaboration also provides Viacom Velocity and Velocity Products Group -- the company's creative content/integrated media group and the newly formed group that brings multi-platform social partnerships, products, and services to clients -- with more data that can help increase the impact of custom campaigns and further expands the unique analytics delivered to ad partners.
Frank Foster, Senior Vice President and General Manager of TiVo Research, said, "This integration will make Viacom the first network to offer advertisers true single-source solutions for audience targeting and measurement. 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. This partnership will not only enable advertisers to see how effectively a campaign reached the target audience, but it will shed light on whether the campaign enticed consumers to take action such as going to a store or buying a product."
"Viacom Vantage is on a mission to transform TV advertising through advanced targeting and prediction," said Bryson Gordon, Senior Vice President of Data Strategy. "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."
Advertisers have been calling for new approaches to measurement and targeting to address the many ways audiences consume content across devices and platforms both in and out of the home. To determine how media spend drives consumer behavior and product sales, TiVo Research has built the industry's largest cross-media single-source panel, including second-by-second tune-in data anonymously matched to online exposure and purchase data for more than two million US homes. Viacom, which reaches a cumulative 3.4 billion television subscribers worldwide and 650 million social media followers, will unlock new capabilities for its marketing and advertising partners through an advanced application of its predictive engine to this sophisticated data set.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form video, apps, games, consumer products, social media and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach a cumulative 3.4 billion television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/Viacom.
About TiVo Research and Analytics, Inc.
TiVo Research and Analytics, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), is a leading cross media research, measurement and analytics company that provides nationally representative single-source data linked to purchases made at the household level. Advertisers, agencies and television networks utilize the company's solutions to improve advertising targeting, accountability, and return on media investment. Partnerships with multi-service operators, and proprietary TiVo set-top-box data enables TiVo Research to provide research based on a representative panel of more than 2.3MM households. The web-based Media TRAnalytics® and TV Health Ratings platforms match the TV and online advertising that households actually receive with the products that the same households actually buy, enabling clients to find "The Right Audience®" while providing an unmatched level of transparency, measurement, media planning/selling, and improved ROI. More information at: www.tivoresearch.com.
About TiVo
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) is a global leader in next-generation television services. With global headquarters in San Jose, CA and offices in New York, NY, Boston, MA, Durham, NC, and Warsaw, Poland. TiVo's innovative cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solutions enable viewers to consume content across multiple screens in and out-of-the home. The TiVo solution provides an all-in-one approach for navigating the 'content chaos' by seamlessly combining live, recorded, on-demand and over-the-top television into one intuitive user interface. The TiVo experience provides TV viewers with simple universal search, discovery, viewing and recording from a variety of devices, creating the ultimate viewing experience. TiVo products and services are available at retail or through a growing number of pay-TV operators world-wide. TiVo's multiple subsidiary companies provide the broader television industry and consumer electronics manufacturers with cloud-based video discovery and recommendation options, interactive advertising solutions and audience research and measurement services. More information at: www.TiVo.com.
TiVo and the TiVo logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of TiVo Inc. or its subsidiaries worldwide.
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to, among other things, the integration of TiVo Research data and products with Viacom's advanced advertising products to provide enhanced measurement and targeting tools for advertisers. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "intend," "estimate," "continue," or similar expressions or the negative of those terms or expressions. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially include delays in development, competitive service offerings and lack of market acceptance, as well as the other potential factors described under "Risk Factors" in TiVo's public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange, including TiVo's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2015, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended April 30, 2015 and July 31, 2015, and Current Reports on Form 8-K. TiVo cautions you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect an analysis only and speak only as of the date hereof. TiVo disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Original Viacom Inc. Press Release via Business Wire:
Viacom Boosts Its Data Strategy Team with Three Significant Executive Hires
Key Staff Additions Will Expand the Company's Industry-Leading Advanced Data Solutions
August 05, 2015 09:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) today announced the addition of three executives with expertise in developing, marketing, and monetizing data products, boosting the company's industry-leading advanced analytic and marketing solutions.
Joining Viacom are Bryson Gordon as Senior Vice President of Data Strategy and Viacom Vantage; Gabe Bevilacqua as Vice President of Product Management for Viacom Vantage; and, Kodi Foster as Vice President of Data Strategy. Bevilacqua and Foster report to Gordon, who will manage the team under the leadership of Kern Schireson, Viacom Executive Vice President of Data Strategy and Consumer Intelligence.
Gordon and his team will be responsible for the development of innovative and game-changing data products for Viacom, which has taken an industry-leading role in introducing new marketing programs that precisely target consumers. They will build upon the success of advertising tools such as Viacom Vantage, which enters its second year as a market leader in advanced predictive targeting, analytics and custom data implementations for agencies and advertisers. This new technical and product expertise significantly accelerates Viacom's already robust data capabilities and product portfolio to more fully monetize the continued engagement around the company's programming and brands.
"Data Strategy plays a key role in Viacom's ecosystem because it marries world-class creativity with advanced analytics," said Schireson. "Bringing on Bryson, Gabe, and Kodi is a big step forward and reinforces our dedication to intelligent data solutions that benefit Viacom and our brand partners."
Bryson Gordon
Gordon spent more than a decade at Microsoft leading consumer marketing, product management, and business incubation teams across Windows, Xbox, Office, Microsoft Store, and most recently, Surface. Within the Surface business, he created an Audience Marketing discipline that defined high-value influencer-segments, establishing data-driven pathways to fan cultivation, while developing techniques to directly connect first-party quantitative research into programmatic advertising engines. Under his leadership, the Surface business grew to over $1B in fourth quarter revenue. Prior to Microsoft, Gordon led Consumer Product Management at McAfee Security, helping develop and market the company's direct-to-customer subscription services. He is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario in Canada and Cambridge University in the UK.
Gabe Bevilacqua
Bevilacqua has over a decade of experience in data-driven marketing technology. He was most recently COO at the company he co-founded, Rallyverse, a content marketing platform that powers social media and content campaigns for Fortune 500 clients. Prior to that, he spent six years at Microsoft in their digital advertising platform, most recently as Director of the Advertiser Tools Business Group for the Atlas Advertiser Suite. Bevilacqua also held positions as Global Brand Manager for Guinness World Records, and held business development roles at Urbanfetch and Cductive. He is a graduate of Princeton and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Kodi Foster
Foster served as the Head of Brand Initiatives at Outbrain, where he led strategic account solutions and partnerships with Fortune 100 brands. In that role, he developed content marketing solutions and established the paid recommendations business for brands, helping to grow Outbrain into the largest content discovery platform in the world. Before joining the Outbrain team, he was the Vice President of Business Development at Sahara Media Holdings, a publicly traded investment company specializing in digital media. He is a graduate of Cornell University.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form video, apps, games, consumer products, social media and other entertainment content for audiences in more than 165 countries and territories. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, CMT, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, Nick at Nite, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, SPIKE, Logo, BET, CENTRIC, Channel 5 (UK), Tr3s, Paramount Channel and VIVA, reach a cumulative 3.2 billion television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
Original Viacom Inc. Press Release via Business Wire:
Viacom Unveils 'Viacom Vantage'
A Revolutionary Data-Driven & Predictive Ad Solution Enabling Advertisers to Reach Custom Audiences Across Viacom's Media Networks
Viacom Vantage Pilots with Select Clients, Amplifying their Reach with Target Consumers
April 29, 2015 05:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) today announced Viacom Vantage, an innovative, data-driven ad product that enables advertisers to reach their custom targets at the program level across the Viacom Media Networks portfolio. This pioneering new approach transforms traditional media planning and offers advertisers more choice, more flexibility and increased accountability. Through a combination of enhanced consumer targeting and a deep understanding of how various audience segments consume content across our platforms, Viacom Vantage predicts which content will perform the best for our clients across MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Nickelodeon, CMT, Spike, TV Land and Logo.
"Our guiding principle is to offer best-in-class and client-centered products for our advertising partners," said Jeff Lucas, Head of Sales for Viacom Media Networks. "Viacom Vantage is our latest cutting edge product to deliver on that promise by enabling our clients to close the gap between how they define their true segments and where their messages can work best in reaching that audience on our shows."
Developed in-house over a year ago, Viacom Vantage's beta version was successfully piloted with a select group of national partners including Horizon Media. Viacom Vantage offered each of these clients deep data integrations, customized capabilities and took on operational and inventory management efforts to drive unique media plans and help set new industry standards.
"When Viacom came to us with this new ad solution, we recognized immediately it was a novel approach that could greatly build upon the effectiveness of our client's investment," said Dave Campanelli, Sr. Vice President, Director of National Television for Horizon Media. "The results far exceeded our expectations by directly identifying and reaching our targeted consumers and providing us with precisely the right programming that would generate the highest return."
Now in its second year and available at scale to clients, Viacom Vantage is the result of years of strategic investment in data, proprietary research and ongoing optimization to build out new predictive models. It goes far beyond the traditional age and gender demographics and provides the capability to integrate attitudinal and behavioral segments with other off-the-shelf segments by using a unique algorithm that is custom fit to each advertiser's goals.
"Our holistic and highly customizable approach to data is far ahead of the industry curve and leverages the unparalleled social and digital reach of our programming to help unlock insights into the commercial and digital behaviors of our audiences," said Kern Schireson, Executive Vice President, Data Strategy and Consumer Intelligence at Viacom Media Networks. "By effectively merging our expansive data footprint with syndicated research, we can continuously optimize media plans to integrate our advertisers' messaging on the exact right shows at the exact right time."
Viacom Vantage is the newest offering from Viacom as the company continues to advance innovative, first-to-market solutions. Last year, Viacom Velocity introduced Echo, an insights-driven approach to harnessing our massive social footprint for content creation, distribution, amplification and optimization. Echo is powered by the Echo Social Graph, a groundbreaking, analytics platform that delivers measured earned media for our partners.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form video, apps, games, consumer products, social media and other entertainment content for audiences in more than 165 countries and territories. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, CMT, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, Nick at Nite, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, SPIKE, Logo, BET, CENTRIC, Channel 5 (UK), Tr3s, Paramount Channel and VIVA, reach a cumulative 3.2 billion television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom.
