Gracenote, renowned within Nielsen for its metadata and IDs for ad targeting, has launched a contextual advertising business aiming to become the taxonomy for connected television (CTV).
Historically, Gracenote has supported mostly publishers. However, when customers began integrating Gracenote’s data into their ad products, including AVOD and FAST streaming models, Trent Wheeler, Chief Product Officer at Gracenote, recognized the need for change. “We really were pulled in by many of our customers,” Wheeler explains.
It took time for Gracenote to realize this need because there was no standardized process. Wheeler emphasizes the importance of analyzing metrics in aggregate to find valuable contextual signals, revealing a valuable market for CTV, particularly with long-tail content in AVOD and FAST platforms.
The service launches with Peer39, a global provider of contextual suitability and quality solutions. For the first time, Gracenote contextual CTV categories will be available on Peer39 partner demand side platform (DSP) platforms, enabling programmatic CTV ad buys. Gracenote has also partnered with Magnite, an independent omnichannel sell-side advertising company, as its first supply-side platform (SSP) to support and scale these new CTV categories.
“This is our first product in this space,” Wheeler says, noting that more partners will join in the future. Publishers testing the service include Cineverse, DIRECTV Advertising, Philo, Tastemade, and Xumo.
Gracenote Contextual Video Data describes individual TV shows and movies to provide more visibility and transparency for media buyers seeking additional signals around content. Agencies such as Cannella Media and Ocean Media plan to use Gracenote CTV categories to optimize targeting and deliver incremental reach.
“The idea that you can make an ad that matches the context of the viewer viewing it is powerful,” Wheeler states. Understanding taxonomies and scale are crucial for customers, and the ability to buy across multiple platforms will follow.
For example, the Gracenote ID gets embedded into pieces of content. Advertisers can search for that content in media buys across multiple streaming discovery platforms—AVOD or FAST—allowing them to fulfill location orders in areas such as Italy or Spain.
While Wheeler notes that the service will eventually support performance advertising, it currently focuses on aiding publishers and improving targeting. The aim is to increase metrics and provide performance reports, but for now, the emphasis remains on offering more metrics to publishers and advertisers.
