Inscape, the data unit of smart TV maker Vizio, said it will be providing expanded coverage of local TV stations by tapping into smart TV tuners in all U.S. markets.
Data from 22 million opted-in smart TVs will be used by stations and measurement companies, including Comscore and VideoAmp, to provide more detailed viewing information from a larger number of viewers.
Local over-the-air TV ratings have been inconsistent because of small sample sizes, particularly in smaller markets. That hurts stations’ ability to sell advertising, particularly to national advertisers.
“By unlocking the potential of local TV in this game-changing way and bringing the full power of big data to OTA signals, clients and the industry as a whole will now have a critical entrypoint to previously unfeasible attribution of local TV content,” Charbel Makhoul, VP of product management, data science and analytics at Vizio and Inscape, said.
The tuner data will be available to participating Inscape clients beginning this month.
The new data can be used to optimize local ad spend with granular device-level data, and to analyze audiences to help improvise content strategy, Inscape said.
“For Comscore, having multiple sources of data capture is a key component of our TV measurement approach, which spans across all 210 local markets,” Comscore chief innovation officer David Algranati said. “Incorporating Smart TV Tuner Data from Inscape gives Comscore additional views into local station viewing behaviors, enabling us to better serve our clients with the most precise measurement.”
Josh Chasin, chief measurability officer at VideoAmp, said: “Local TV, and especially over the air digital broadcast, is one of the most robust spaces in the video ecosystem. We’re thrilled that Inscape is proactively supporting the measurement of this vital piece of the video pie.”
In an era of cord-cutting, 18% of U.S. TV households have a digital antenna and watch TV over the air. Over-the-air viewing generated an estimated $15.4 billion in advertising revenue in 2023. That figure is expected to jump to $18.8 billion in 2024, because it is a presidential election year.
