iSpot, a media measurement firm, is competing to win clients after recent pushback against Nielsen. TVision is a company that provides second-by-second analysis on how viewers watch television.
TVision announced Tuesday that it has closed a $16 million strategic investment round that will allow it to secure its future. “continued transformation and modernization of accurate, person-level panel measurement.”SIG Capital and Accomplice were also investors. TVision stated that its total funds raised are now more than $58 millions.
This activity is a result of a number of start-ups and other underdogs trying to be more competitive with Nielsen. Since the company’s recent privatization, it has been operating without industry accreditation for both its local and national TV ratings. This leaves others with no options but to compete. Nielsen’s ratings remain the bedrock of most deals between TV networks and advertisers, but many of the traditional media companies have started to offer new kinds of measurement pacts using companies including iSpot, VideoAmp and Comscore,
iSpot secured a pact with NBCUniversal to become a measurement technology utilized in that company’s alternate system offered during the industry’s recent upfront sales market. Although media buyers and advertisers are interested in some of these new offers, they remain cautious about media companies acting as arbiters of audience size.
Sean Muller, the founder of iSpot and CEO, will join TVision as part the investment.