Acquisition Creates Cross-Screen Platform for Measuring Brand Impact and Business Outcomes for TV Advertising in Real Time
BELLEVUE AND LOS ANGELES — JAN. 14, 2021 — iSpot.tv has acquired Ace Metrix, a pioneer in attitudinal measurement for TV and video creatives. The deal delivers the marketplace a single-source solution for tracking the business outcomes and brand impact of TV and video advertising. The combined capabilities of iSpot and Ace Metrix provide brands a unified, granular understanding of audience reach, consumer attention, brand impact and return on TV and CTV advertising investments.
The two companies have each built successful brand-direct businesses on their reputations as fast, accurate and actionable measurement platforms that utilize real-time ad detection at scale to gather the insights brands need to succeed in the fast-evolving TV industry. Through the acquisition of Ace, iSpot now has annual contracts with 500+ brands —including more than 50% of the Ad Age 100 and 96% of America’s TV networks — furthering its position as the always-on measurement platform of record for both programmers and advertisers.
iSpot, which is known for its ability to measure the reach, conversion rates and lift across TV and streaming TV for every second of advertising, will integrate Ace’s infrastructure and technologies of creative assessment to inform the planning, buying and brand impact of TV advertising. Ace Metrix, which gathers consumer sentiments before and immediately after an ad first airs, brings to iSpot a sophisticated measurement system for determining what resonates about ad creative and why. Ace’s measurements include brand recall, purchase intent, likeability, and groundbreaking NLP (Natural Language Processing) emotion measurement.
“We know that brands invest in TV and video advertising to drive sales and lasting brand equity with audiences, often in the same campaign and creatives,” says Sean Muller, CEO and founder of iSpot.tv. “This acquisition represents an industry-first solution for measuring both business outcomes and brand impact together and in real time. We are excited to bring Ace into the iSpot family because our joint technologies and expertise empower brands to make better, faster and more confident decisions.”
iSpot will immediately work to integrate Ace Metrix technology and operations into its own. Ace CEO Peter Daboll will be joining the iSpot executive team as Chief Strategy Officer. The company joins iSpot as a profitable enterprise SaaS business.
“The integration of Ace into the iSpot ecosystem creates an ad measurement machine unlike anything out there today, ” says Daboll. “We share so much DNA — from being the first real-time companies to disrupt TV advertising, to our always-on approach to measurement at scale, to our deep, long-lasting brand partnerships. This deal creates a one-of-a-kind opportunity for cohesive ad measurement at all stages of the advertising life cycle.”
“Coldwell Banker has trusted Ace Metrix’s creative assessment solutions for critical data-driven decision making,” says Victoria Keichinger, the company’s VP Brand Marketing. “We’re very excited about the bundled approach under iSpot as it will offer the marketplace an objective and subjective way to measure media and ad creative in one powerful platform.”
iSpot will retain the Ace Metrix headquarters in Los Angeles, California, adding to iSpot’s significant presence in the Seattle area (Bellevue) and New York City, as well as other cities across the U.S. where iSpot maintains satellite offices. Ace’s 45 employees will join iSpot, bringing the total organization to 240 people.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed but, at the time of purchase Ace Metrix has a loyal roster of 100 large advertiser brands.
About iSpot
iSpot.tv is the market leader in real-time cross-platform TV ad measurement and attribution. The company’s always-on platform measures the business impact and brand impact of TV advertising and offers fast, accurate and actionable information that empowers brands to justify and optimize TV and video investments.
iSpot persistently measures TV-device impressions and second-by-second attention for all TV ads in a unified manner across linear, time-shifted, VOD and streaming environments. iSpot’s Ace Metrix product measures brand perceptions for TV and video creatives using rapid qualitative panels, and its market-leading attribution solution enables advertisers and TV networks to plan, optimize and transact on business outcomes.
The company delivers its solution in real time via intuitive and modern dashboards as well as APIs and customized analytics. iSpot.tv has hundreds of brands and all major TV networks licensing its enterprise solution and has become a trusted currency for both networks and brands. Founded in Bellevue, Washington in 2013, iSpot has offices in major cities across America.