Tips for combining set-top box data and Smart TV ACR data

Two sources of TV viewing and advertising insights – set-top box data and data from Smart TVs’ Automated Content Recognition (ACR) systems – operate in siloes. The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement has conducted research on how to commingle these data sources, and developed recommendations.

Why it matters

The fact these data sets are siloed hinders the ability of media ecosystem to truly understand viewing habits and data that will help in planning, buying and optimizing ad campaigns.

Takeaways

• Looking at the household composition of homes with STBs, and those with enabled Smart TVs, illustrates that each segment is distinct and different from the US population.
• That said, many homes overlap between data sets, so they need to be matched and divided into: STB only, STB/Smart TV ACR , and Smart TV ACR only.
• Data sets should span multiple providers to represent different geographic footprints and amplify the complementary measurement properties of both collection techniques.

The big idea

CIMM is looking for the industry to coalesce around its recommendations to move marketers toward a holistic depiction of viewers’ consumption behavior, enhancing campaign optimization. It will also help media owners maximize their ad inventory.