Streaming And Measurement Took Center Stage At CES

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is a popular destination for streaming TV publishers and video currency sellers to kick off this year’s dealmaking and, to some extent, prepare for the advance. It seems that planning ahead start every year earlier.

As the connected TV market consolidates and competition in measurement heats up, streamers and video currencies are using CES as an opportunity to woo customers with fancy meetings and flashy product announcements. Take Disney, for example, which is now hosting its annual dog-and-pony ad tech show in Vegas to garner more attention at CES.

Disney and other streamers like NBCUniversal and Roku have all jumped on the bandwagon CES last week compete for advertisers and clients. The same goes for the big ones kahunas alternative currency (Comscore, VideoAmp, iSpot), all vying to replace Nielsen.

Let’s dive in.

He dreams of streaming at CES

Being a TV host doesn’t get any easier. Legacy studios are trying to contain their linear losses as they try not to lose market share to pure streamers like Netflix, Apple TV and Prime Video.

Disney was especially noisy at CES. On Monday, Mouse House launched a new ad product help fight data fragmentation. The next day it was announced live auctioned sports deals and Live Sports Ads Certification Program. Then on Wednesday, Disney held its fifth annual Tech and Data Showcase live at CES. It teased new custom advertising options for the standalone ESPN+ streaming app, which launches in the fall, and touted its growing ad-supported streaming scale. Disney now has 157 million global ad-supported subscribers across its streaming portfolio (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+).

NBCUniversal, another legacy broadcaster with a large streaming platform, competes directly with Disney for advertiser budgets during CES. This week, NBCU launched new ad formats for live events on the Peacock. Almost all streamers are struggling to make live sports a competitive advantage in their quest for ad budget, which is why NBCU is lauding auctioned sports deals more than a year, especially during Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

Also this week, NBCU parent Comcast debuted a self-serve ad platform designed to appeal to small businesses and local advertisers. The new platform, the so-called Universal adsis integrated with other acquisition studios, including Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and Roku along with NBCU.

Speaking of Roku, let’s not forget about TV distribution platforms, which also have a large share of the flow of wars like ia presence at CES.

This year, Roku kicked off CES with an evolution of its clean room, the Roku Data Cloud, designed to give customers more direct access to detailed streaming TV data. Roku also touted its growing scale — more than 90 million households as of this week — and a new partnership with Innovid for frequency controlone of the biggest pet peeves in buying CTV ads.

Currency flows

Because TV ad measurement lacks standardization, measurement is becoming increasingly important competitive differentiator for streamers and a hot topic at CES.

However, before measurement standardization occurs, alternative video currencies need a larger market share. And that requires a client takeover from Nielsen.

Earlier this week, VideoAmp renewed its deal with Paramount, cementing its place as the studio’s video currency of choice. While it’s clear that the partnership announcement is timed for CES, VideoAmp and Paramount’s relationship also represents the next phase of the internal battle over TV measurement—and the importance using CES to win media buyers actively looking for new jobs and partnerships.

When the contract between Paramount and Nielsen out of date in the fallParamount blamed Nielsen for its unsustainably expensive services. Then, a few weeks later, Nielsen removed Paramount’s streaming data from its service that tracks ad transactions, prompting a flurry of purchases frustration.

Capitalizing on that frustration, VideoAmp announced Monday that it’s offering brands and buyers access to its national linear content rating dashboard free until the end of March. This offer may help the rival currency win over agencies and advertisers disaffected with Nielsen.

VideoAmp is certainly not the only alternative currency competing for multi-agency buy-in. Comscore and iSpot are also at CES this week, and both are likely booking sales meetings and demos with as many customers as possible.

What I’m wondering is: Will CES change the trajectory of investment in streaming and measurement this year?

Tell me what you think. Call me at [email protected].