Key Points
- VIDAA plans to launch V Index later this year, aiming to compete with Nielsen and Comscore by measuring both linear and streaming TV audiences.
- The tool will aggregate viewing data across apps and channels from more than 30 million activated VIDAA-powered smart TVs, starting in EMEA markets.
- CEO Guy Edri said the goal is to modernize TV measurement and treat big-screen streaming and broadcast viewing under one unified system.
Hisense-backed connected television developer VIDAA is looking to take on traditional and emerging measurement services like Nielsen and Comscore with its own slate of measurement solutions, The Desk has learned.
In the coming months, VIDAA (now operating as V) will launch its measurement product called V Index, which will marry traditional TV audiences with those who prefer streaming services and video apps, the goal of which is to give current and prospective advertisers greater insights into what people are watching, how they’re watching it and when.
In a note last week, VIDAA International CEO Guy Edri said traditional TV measurement “was always easy before streaming started — there was only one source of data that everyone followed — but, in the last five years, it all changed, and the industry didn’t evolve.”
“TV measurement is still measured like it was 20 years ago,” Edri said. “We will change it this year!”
V Index will collect and contextualize data points across different channels and apps, with information about what people are watching, time of day and the ratio of content based on traditional linear viewing and consumption on streaming apps.
Edri said V Index was inspired by Europe GDK, an information and analytics company that operates in nearly four dozen countries and that gives marketers top-level insight into consumption data on certain video services.
VIDAA believes it is well-positioned to do the same with granular-level data across different services: Its smart TVs, powered by Home OS (formerly VIDAA OS), are now activated in more than 30 million homes.
VIDAA’s pitch from the get-go was simple: Treat content providers equitably, whether they choose to distribute their video over smart TV apps or traditional linear channels, and give them a place where they can monetize their shows and movies through subscriptions and connected TV advertising.
The company concentrated its efforts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) first — a market where stateside power players like Roku and Amazon had not focused their attention, and where cheap Android-powered TV devices are a dime a dozen. There, audiences were — and, to some degree, still are — accustom to watching new series and movies on traditional linear TV channels, though the practice has shifted in favor of streaming apps over the past few years.
VIDAA viewed that shift as an opportunity to bring its connected TV platform to audiences with an integrated smart TV solution, one that attracted larger outlets like Netflix, HBO Max and Disney Plus as much as it did regional and smaller players like Canal Plus.
By keeping its attention off the U.S., VIDAA was able to build its business in an under-represented space without having to compete against larger players in a saturated market, though some Hisense models now offer VIDAA OS in the U.S.
“The U.S. is a very saturated market,” Edri said in an interview two years ago. “That’s why we decided to focus on other places first, and only recently in the U.S., but our platform is like any other platform.”
Likewise, VIDAA will bring V Index to parts of the world where established American measurement services like Nielsen, Comscore and Videoamp largely don’t operate, though it seems like it is just a matter of time before the company brings that product suite to the U.S., especially if it attracts a sizable number of content distributors and ad buyers in other places.
By launching in EMEA first, V Index will be able to figure out what works and what doesn’t, without the distractions that larger American measurement firms sometimes face with their products. Once it is developed, V Index is expected to make its way to other markets, including the U.S., where it will compete head-on with those larger firms.
“With these new ad products, we are simplifying both the offering and the measurement under one clear philosophy: big-screen advertising is TV advertising,” Edri said. “These products will be measured as TV products — with one consistent, transparent logic that reflects real audience behavior on the big screen. More accurate, more data-driven, but rooted in the fundamentals of television. Whether broadcast or streamed, the experience is TV — and from now on, we treat it that way.”
Edri said V Index is expected to launch during the second quarter (Q2) of the year, and interested parties should e-mail rating@vidaa.com for more information about the offering.
