Gracenote teams with major connected TV (CTV) players to optimize contextual ad targeting

New contextual categories powered by program-level Gracenote metadata available for Q4 campaigns with Cineverse, DIRECTV Advertising, Philo, Tastemade and Xumo to help buyers target key audiences at scale 

NEW YORK, July 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, is powering new contextual categories to give advertisers greater visibility into the content that their messages run against on connected TV (CTV). By teaming with Peer39, the leading global provider of contextual suitability and quality solutions for modern marketers, these Gracenote-powered contextual CTV categories will be available on Peer39 partner DSP platforms for the first time enabling programmatic CTV ad buys. Additionally, Gracenote has tapped Magnite (NASDAQ:MGNI), the largest independent omnichannel sell-side advertising company, as the first SSP to support and scale these new CTV categories.

Publishers including Cineverse, DIRECTV Advertising, Philo, Tastemade and Xumo can enhance their programming with Gracenote Contextual Video Data which describes individual TV shows and movies to provide more visibility and transparency for media buyers who want additional signals around content. Agencies including Cannella Media and Ocean Media intend to use Gracenote CTV categories to optimize targeting and deliver incremental reach. 

High quality Gracenote metadata has long been trusted by the world's leading publishers and streamers to power innovative video experiences and advanced content discovery. With this announcement, Gracenote is making its gold-standard program genres, ratings, content types and advisories available as the common taxonomy for media buyers and sellers to transact direct and programmatic CTV buys on.

"For CTV advertising to reach its full potential, scale and transparency are critical," said Trent Wheeler, Chief Product Officer at Gracenote. "Gracenote is uniquely positioned to become the taxonomy for the CTV marketplace providing program-level metadata for sellers and buyers to transact on. The insight into content enabled by Gracenote Contextual Video Data will help publishers optimize their CTV inventory and advertisers reach target audiences at scale."

Gracenote data provides unprecedented granularity at scale for programmatic ad buys. Publishers can use Gracenote's deep descriptive metadata to package ad inventory to unlock incremental revenue for content catalogs. Magnite's controls allow publishers to determine when this content metadata is shared with advertisers.

For example, if a sports documentary is only identified as a "documentary," it may miss out on suitable bids for "sports enthusiasts" and other sports categories, limiting incremental reach. A "drama" set in Paris could have multiple sub-genres such as "fashion" and "travel" that would appeal to luxury goods or airline advertisers opening new ad matching opportunities. CTV publishers and content owners can be assured that media buyers will not have access to show, series or episode titles for targeting. 

"CTV represents the future of television advertising and the ability to pass standardized contextual data signals at scale will improve results for advertisers and lead to more investment for publishers," said Mario Diez, CEO of Peer39. "We've spent the past several years looking to bring more effectiveness to CTV ad targeting. Together with Gracenote, we hope to create a strong ecosystem where advertisers, publishers and consumers all benefit from content supported through contextually relevant advertising."

Making Gracenote's contextual CTV categories available through Peer39 will allow advertisers and agencies to better understand available programming and more effectively target audiences to achieve their advertising goals. Media buyers can also use keyword targeting to match against or exclude actor, director, sports type, mood, theme, subject, location and other types of in-content metadata. Gracenote's program ratings and parental advisory categories give brands the confidence to lift channel blocks while avoiding unsuitable content.

"Magnite is pleased to be working with Gracenote to scale the use of standardized contextual categories to improve CTV advertising outcomes and as our collaboration continues, we'll innovate together to facilitate the adoption, scale, and distribution of Contextual Video Data," said Kristen Williams, SVP of Strategic Partnerships at Magnite. "In addition to experimenting with different packages based on contextual use cases, we are discussing additional features including more robust data controls for media owners. We look forward to working closely with Gracenote and our partners to increase collaboration through contextual insights."

The addition of Gracenote metadata adds new content-level control to Peer39 and creates the most scaled and precise set of CTV data available to the marketplace. This forms the foundation of a better CTV advertising ecosystem in which publishers, agencies and brands benefit. DSPs, SSPs and publishers either already leveraging or planning to leverage the new Gracenote categories through Peer39 include Basis, Cadent, DeepIntent, Illumin (formerly Acuity), Index Exchange, Infillion (formerly Mediamath), Magnite, Microsoft (formerly Xandr), Plex, Viant (formerly Adelphic) and Yahoo.

Industry Supporters

Cannella Media: "Cannella Media is excited to work with Gracenote and leverage its contextual program metadata," said Chris Brombach, SVP, Media and Strategy at Cannella Media. "We are confident that efficient access to CTV inventory and enhanced targeting enabled by Gracenote will allow us to build on our successful CTV campaign strategies—ultimately driving increased profitability for our clients."

DIRECTV Advertising: "At DIRECTV Advertising, we are committed to providing our advertisers the tools to reach their audiences most effectively," said Matt Jamison, AVP, Head of Ad Sales Partnerships at DIRECTV Advertising. "By integrating Gracenote's content metadata, we can offer brands more precision in the content they're airing within, as well as more transparency on the backend. This collaboration marks a significant step forward in enhancing our CTV advertising capabilities, enabling us to deliver more relevant and impactful ads to our viewers."

Ocean Media: "Contextual signals are critical to optimizing campaigns for our brands so we look forward to advancements here," said Kevin Telkamp, VP, Media Operations at Ocean Media. "Since Connected TV devices are often shared between individuals in the same household, content classification helps to distinguish and better address the optimal consumers for brand messages. We are excited about Gracenote's new standardized contextual data offering and the potential it holds for the betterment of the CTV ecosystem."

Philo: "Context is a key component that allows advertisers to place their ads within

programming that is brand-safe and most effectively supports their message to consumers," said Reed Barker, Head of Advertising at Philo. "With Gracenote's innovative contextual categories, Philo can offer advertisers unparalleled insight into our content, resulting in more effective and impactful ad campaigns. This partnership marks a significant step forward in our mission to provide both our audience and advertisers with the best possible streaming experience."

Tastemade: "Tastemade is a leader in passing as much content metadata as possible, so we've seen firsthand how a lack of standardization can be an inhibitor to buyers," said Evan Bregman, General Manager, Streaming at Tastemade. "We're excited to partner with Gracenote to overcome this hurdle and make it easy for advertisers to transact against contextual segments at scale."

Xumo: "Xumo is optimistic about the power of contextual advertising to help brands reach target consumers by aligning with programming," said Jerrold Son, Vice President, Ad Integrations & Operations at Xumo. "A standard taxonomy which both sellers and buyers can rely on is a critical component to the success of this type of targeting, and we're pleased that Gracenote is making their trusted metadata, IDs and taxonomy available to the ecosystem."

Yahoo: "We've seen repeatedly that relevant ads drive higher attention, and ensuring advertisers have transparency into the type of content they are bidding against is critical for guiding strategies that deliver results," said Beau Ordemann, VP of Advanced TV at Yahoo. "This offering will be beneficial for advertisers trying to reach target audiences by providing enhanced contextual relevance. We look forward to bringing this offering to Yahoo DSP clients and helping them meet their objectives even further."

About Gracenote

Gracenote is the content data business unit of Nielsen, providing entertainment metadata, content IDs and related offerings to the world's leading creators, distributors and platforms. Gracenote has aggregated, normalized and enriched core program metadata covering 30M titles in 360 streaming catalogs in 35 languages and 60 countries. Gracenote technology enables advanced content navigation and discovery capabilities helping individuals to easily connect to the TV shows, movies, music and sports they love while delivering powerful content analytics making complex business decisions simpler. For more information, visit Gracenote.com.

About Peer39

Peer39 is the leading global provider of contextual suitability and quality solutions for modern marketers. The company's AI-powered semantic analysis engine is used by thousands of brands, agencies, and publishers to better understand content across web, CTV, in-app mobile, and online video ad placements. Peer39's targeting, measurement, analytics, and suitability & safety tools are all informed by privacy-compliant, cookie-free data. This ensures that these solutions will help advertisers now, and well into the future of media. For more information, visit Peer39.com.

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SOURCE Gracenote