Viacom Signs On With comScore; TV Needs Social Says Dave Morgan

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Things To comScore

Not to call it a divorce from Nielsen, but Viacom, one of Nielsen’s most vocal critics in the broadcast community, has signed a multiyear partnership with comScore. ComScore claims its strength in digital will bolster Viacom’s portfolio and visibility into consumer data. “You will absolutely see more of these deals with broadcasters and agencies,” comScore CEO Serge Matta told AdExchanger on Friday. “The market welcomed our merger with Rentrak and they’re absolutely putting their dollars behind their support. Viacom, yes, was the first, but believe me … this will not be our first and only deal.” The release.

The One-Two Punch

Do TV platforms and social ad platforms need to be powered by a single source of data? Simulmedia founder and CEO Dave Morgan believes so, according to his column at MediaPost. The goal is to improve cross-channel campaigns from planning to optimization. It would be a “game-changer,” Morgan writes: “We will see campaigns with coordinated, cross-platform managed reach and frequency, where TV spots extend reach from Facebook to specific target audiences, and vice versa.” While Morgan is certainly aware of the way Twitter positions itself as an amplifier of live TV broadcasts, he indicates that adding Facebook’s reach and volume would have the greatest effect on this cross-channel dream.

Matching Up

Google’s content recommendation tool Matching (for publishers using AdSense who don’t have Outbrain, Taboola or the like) has a beta feature allowing promoted content within the recommendation widget. Read more on Google’s blog. Google says ads “will show only when appropriate ads are available.” If you’re an AdSense publisher who wants to give this a whirl, opt into “Allow ads.” Smaller Match widgets won’t show ads, and those that do show won’t count against the Google’s per-page ad quota. More at Marketing Land.

Signs Of The Times

The New York Times UK team will run its first native ad campaign, featuring different luxury products, reports Digiday. Every day for more than 30 years, Tiffany’s has owned the daily ad space in the upper righthand corner of the A3 page of the Times – but how do you replicate that online? “The luxury space is difficult with branded content,” says Kaylee King-Balentine, director of the Times’ in-house sponsored content team. Luxury is a big pool that’s often unavailable to programmatic players because “they are so sensitive about what goes adjacent to it.” More.

But Wait, There’s More!