Lindsey Woodland, group VP of client data service at 605 and iSpot.tv, majored in math because she likes solving puzzles. “I still do math today,” said Woodland, who has a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Woodland thought she would be a teacher or professor. “After grad school, I realized that you can teach at any job,” she said. “When you lead a department or a team, you’re teaching them as you go, so it’s applicable in most careers.”

Woodland used math to come up with a solution to one of the television industry’s toughest questions: How well is my advertising working?

She started to address that question after one of her professors suggested she go to work for Prognos, which specialized in projecting sales for consumer packaged goods based on pricing and promotion. Prognos was acquired by Antuit.ai, a big data solutions business.

Woodland moved to 605, Kristin Dolan’s analytics company, in 2017 and got more involved in analyzing television and advertising. 

“I felt like at my old company, we solved a lot of the math problems we were working on,” she recalled. 605 was a startup company that was planning to grow and offered more opportunities for creativity and personal career growth.

Woodland dug into the attribution issue. She found a lot of the solutions available at the time weren’t very sophisticated and did the math that proved to be the basis for 605’s attribution product, called 605 Impact. 

Woodland said she used modeling and machine learning to calculate how clients’  advertising was performing and provide that information quickly enough for clients to adjust campaigns. She also created visualizations, making the data easier to picture.

“She’s really been the leading light when it comes to product innovation,” Tom Keaveney, president of 605, said. “The most noteworthy thing she’s done is when we talk about how ad dollars work.”

The 605 Impact product is one reason why iSpot.tv decided to buy 605 last year.

Figuring out the impact ad dollars have on various aspects of consumer behavior can be complex, and if clients don’t buy in the best data goes to naught.

But Woodland can do something many other data scientists can’t. “What makes her particularly special is the people skills that she has, and in particular that ability to make complex topics understood at any level,” Keaveney said. “And no academic qualification is going to give you that. That’s something you either have or you don’t have.”

605 sends her to speak at conferences and to explain to clients what the research says, the methodology involved and which strategies and options they should pursue.

Juan Solana, global director, measurement, advanced analytics and performance-driven marketing at General Motors, first worked with Woodland when he was with Walmart. When he moved to GM, 605 and Woodland “was one of the first vendors I brought on board in order to understand better the impact of TV on foot traffic,” he said. “She’s a very good translator between business and data science.”

Keaveney said Woodland’s people skills are valuable inside the company as well. “She nurtures her team,” he said. “They all adore her. She builds incredible loyalty, but also she’s very much focused on advancing them. I’ve seen her organization and I see a whole bunch of mini Lindseys coming through.”

Woodland also develops herself, asking to understand the company’s profit and loss statement and its strategy going forward. “This is somebody who can achieve a huge amount,” Keaveney said. 

A Positive Presence

On top of that, “she’s just a good person to have around,” he added. “When she walks into the office, she just lifts everyone’s spirit. She always has a smile on her face.”

Since becoming part of iSpot, Woodland has become the 605er with the most visibility across the organization, according to Keaveney. “A lot of that is because she really felt we could do better together.”

“We now have access to our combined companies’ data, which is pretty great,” Woodland said.

Woodland has been playing golf with her family since she was a kid and was on the varsity team at her Division III school. Her people skills may not include the rule that you don’t beat clients on the links.

“I’ve heard that, but it’s hard,” she said. “Do you really want to let them win? I don’t know.”

Measurement and analytics company iSpot.TV has acquired 605, the measurement business owned by James and Kristin Dolan’s investment company, strengthening one of the challengers to Nielsen’s ratings dominance.

Financial terms were not disclosed but sources said the deal involves cash and stock, which means the Dolans have a financial interest in iSpot.

This is the largest of five acquisitions privately held iSpot has made. Last year, Goldman Sachs invested $325 million in ISpot. 

Also Read: iSpot Buys TVision Stake in $16 Million CTV Ratings Deal

“605 has developed an impressive technology architecture, a great approach to using big data and a suite of powerful solutions that nicely complement our own,” Sean Muller, founder and CEO of iSpot, said. “We are excited to integrate their world-class team of engineers and data scientists in our mission to modernize measurement effectiveness and new currencies.”

The deal gives iSpot access to data 605 gets through its relationships with Charter Communications and Walmart. 

Combining the 16.6 million set-top boxes 605 gets data from with data iSpot gets from Vizio and LG smart-TV sets, iSpot’s TV device footprint stands at 82.7 million.

605 will continue as a division of iSpot headed by 605 president Tom Keaveney. All of 605’s staffers will be joining iSpot, giving it a combined head count of 464.  With 605, iSpot also gains a New York presence and stronger relationships with 605’s network clients.

The deal comes as measurement industry leader Nielsen faces challenges from companies using big data to measure audiences and the impact of TV advertising.

“We launched 605 seven years ago with the idea that high-quality data and advanced analytics would make television advertising even more effective, from planning and segmentation all the way through to attribution and now prediction,” said Kristin Dolan, founder of 605 and now the CEO of AMC Networks. “During a time of profound change in our industry, I could not be more proud of the team for delivering on that promise. 

“iSpot has built a large and loyal customer base, particularly with large brand advertisers, and is a pioneer in the measurement space. I can’t wait to see the things this powerful combination of technology and talent can achieve and bring to a growing array of clients and partners under iSpot’s leadership,” Dolan added. 

605’s capabilities business-outcome attribution solutions that measure effectiveness against consumer packaged goods sales, auto sales, credit card, location, search and survey KPIs. Capabilities also include a powerful planning and optimization platform, advanced audience segmentation and predictive analytics capabilities powered by machine learning.

"Myself and the entire 605 team are thrilled to join iSpot,“ Keaveney said. “This combination of our complementary talent, data, product and technologies will accelerate the innovation that will disrupt the status quo in media measurement. The most exciting thing for us is the alignment of vision. Our collective focus is on using business outcomes to provide real measures of performance and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of brand investment. Together we will help brand dollars work smarter.”

DirecTV Advertising said it is working with data and analytics company 605 to provide clients with campaign performance metrics.

605 will provide DirecTV ad clients with lower-funnel metrics including sales lift, website activity and geolocation visitation.

“The combination of DirecTV market-leading addressable TV product with 605’s analytical rigor will create a compelling offering for brands who increasingly want meaningful and timely metrics on the performance of their spend,” 605 president Tom Keaveney said. “We anticipate this will make advanced measurement and attribution accessible to an even greater number of DirecTV brands.”

The 605 data expands on DirecTV’s direct-to-consumer relationships and first-party data about its subscribers.

 “DirecTV Advertising is always driving new opportunities to provide innovative and differentiated attribution solutions to our customers,” Amy Leifer, chief advertising sales officer at DirecTV, said. “This partnership will unlock valuable insights and showcase how addressable campaigns can deliver real results for marketers and brands.”

Warner Bros. Discovery said it is working with a half-dozen companies to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns across its linear, digital and advanced audiences.

The companies are 605, ABCS Insights, Disqo, EDO, LoopMe and Pilotly

“We’re excited to link arms with these innovative companies to better measure and evaluate the attribution and efficacy of campaigns, allowing advertisers to see the true value of our premium storytelling across platforms, from initial consumer awareness to actual consumer action,” said Andrea Zapata, executive VP, head of ad sales Research, Measurement and Insights at Warner Bros. Discovery. “We continue to invest in new and alternative measurement providers that empower the marketplace to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of their spend and see a more multi-dimensional ROI.” 

Warner Bros. Discovery said it is committed to developing an expansive portfolio of measurement and currency providers to  demonstrate the value and outcomes for sponsors of its content and brands. 

“The power of Warner Bros. Discovery’s content and platforms is undeniable, and we’re all-in to help them further validate their efficacy for advertisers,” said Stephen Jepson, executive VP, advertising effectiveness at Disquo. “We’re committed to helping Warner Bros. Discovery deliver neutral and unparalleled insight into what drives consumers in their audience to action.”

AMC Networks named Kristin Dolan, wife of executive chairman James Dolan, as the media company’s new CEO.

Kristin Dolan, 56, was chief operating officer at Cablevision Systems before the family sold it in 2015 and has served as a director of AMC Networks, which was spun off from Cablevision and is still controlled by the Dolan family. Most recently, Kristin Dolan has been CEO of 605, an audience measurement and data analytics company.

AMC’s previous CEO, former CFO Christine Spade departed in November after three months in office. After her departure, James Dolan announced there would be “large scale layoffs” at AMC, and about 20% of the staff was dismissed. 

James Dolan noted that the company — best known for high-profile shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad and Mad Men — was suffering from the industry-wide pressure caused by cord-cutting and that revenue losses at its cable networks were not yet being offset by growth at its subscription streaming services.

AMC is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings on Friday.

Also: AMC Restructures Ad Sales Unit Ahead of Upfront Market

“Kristin is a proven executive and operational leader with a track record driving organizational change, a history managing subscription-based businesses, and a deep understanding of audience engagement and advertising,” James Dolan said in making the announcement.

“These are areas of critical importance as we transform our company and monetize our high-quality content,“ he said. “With her considerable experience and knowledge of the company, Kristin is the ideal person to lead AMC Networks into its next chapter as we navigate this transformative period in the industry.” 

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kristin Dolan will receive a minimum base salary of $2 million and an annual bonus targeted at 200% of salary. She will also be eligible for long-term equity and other incentives with a target value of at least $3.75 million.

She will also get a special award of restricted stock units valued at $6 million.

“It’s a privilege to join a company with a long legacy of engaging audiences with excellent storytelling and world-class brands,” Kristin Dolan said. “It’s also where I started my career in the industry. I look forward to bringing my broad experience — across programming, cable operations and, most recently, utilizing data to reimagine television advertising — to leverage AMC Networks’ strong assets, drive the next phase of the company’s growth, and build shareholder value in the coming years.”

Kristin Dolan is also a director of The Wendy’s Co. and Revlon Inc. and the Dolan family’s Madison Square Garden Co.  ■

Measurement and analytics company 605 said the Xandr will be using 605 Exchange Advanced Audiences ad currency for data-driven linear campaigns transacted on Xandr’s Monetize TV and Invest TV platforms.

The move comes as media companies and ad buyers explore alternatives to using Nielsen’s audience data as a basis for buying and selling ads.

Also: NBCU Recognizes More Measurement Companies as Nielsen Alternatives

“We are excited to bring 605 Exchange data to our TV platforms and play a role in advancing audience-based TV advertising,” said Jason Burke, VP of business development at Xandr. “The ability to define and connect with the right audience is critical to the advertisers, agencies and programmers looking to maximize investment outcomes for data-driven linear campaigns.” 

Xandr was launched as the advanced advertising unit of AT&T. The phone company has been getting rid of  its media assets and agreed to sell Xandr to Microsoft.

605, backed by the Dolan Family Ventures, announced plans to jump into the currency business last year. 

“We announced 605 Exchange in December 2021 with the intention of bringing features to the market throughout 2022. The launch of Advanced Audiences is a testament to our efforts and marks the first of many industry-leading measurement solutions we have in store,” said 605 founder and CEO Kristin Dolan. “We are delighted to be working with Xandr to give brands the ability to dynamically create granular audiences and execute buys against these customer segments through 605 Exchange."

Also: Five Years Later, Kristin Dolan’s 605 Is in a New Measurement World

605’s Advanced Audiences will initially be available for linear television. The product is customizable and takes advantage of 605’s deals with data providers including PlaceIQ, Catalina and Polk.

605 Exchange will facilitate the creation of Advanced Audiences, measuring the outcome, performance and optimization of campaigns using attribution from a common 605 data spine, the company said. These campaigns will serve as building blocks for future cross platform media media campaigns designed to drive full funnel performance.

605 also said it has launched an Open Partner Program to support 605 Exchange, allowing programmers, agencies and advertisers to closely collaborate with 605 to create an independent ecosystem with a stable, accurate, consistent and always-on medium of exchange for the trading of advertising.■

AMC Networks, an advanced advertising pioneer, said it has enabled addressable ad inventory in every hour of the original programming on AMC Network and WE tv.

Amazon has made a year-long commitment and will launch a campaign Sunday during the The Walking Dead, which is starting the second chapter of its final season. Amazon will also be airing addressable ads in the final season of Better Call Saul and in new programs like the upcoming series Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire.

AMC has been aiming to make all of its linear inventory addressable, but current technology limits it to three single-advertiser spots per show, said Evan Adlman, senior VP of advanced advertising and digital partnerships for AMC.

Also: AMC Networks Goes Programmatic With Linear Addressable Campaigns

The Amazon campaign will be addressable in 35 million households that subscribe to Comcast, Charter Communication and Cox cable using technology from Canoe Ventures. The campaign will also be addressable in homes with activated Vizio smart TVs.

Amazon will run its national ad campaign on the AMC networks. With the first-party data it has at its disposal, Amazon has created specific audience segments. When Canoe or Vizio detects that a viewing household matches an audience segment, a different commercial for Amazon is delivered to that household that is much more targeted to that particular household. AMC uses the OAR watermarking technology to merge the cable and Vizio footprints.

“It makes this advertising extremely relevant, the most relevant advertising that we've ever been able to sell on our network, because they can use their first-party data,” Adlman said. 

AMC will be using data company 605 to track and measure the campaign’s results as it progresses.

Addressable advertising technology has been around for years, but it has been difficult to mount national addressable campaigns on linear networks because they are carried by multiple distributors, each with their own ad sales and serving systems. Most addressable advertising had appeared in the local time on national networks controlled by cable operators and satellite providers. 

AMC began working with Canoe, a joint venture of Comcast, Charter and Cox, in 2020, to make addressable work and ran a campaign with Volkswagen later that year.

AMC has been testing addressability on its linear networks using promotional inventory.

“We’re still testing with other pockets of inventory, but we’re launched and capable now. It’s no longer an aspiration,” Adlman said.

Also: AMC Networks Signs Up With Addressable Ad Group

Beyond Amazon, AMC is talking about addressable campaign with other clients. “There’s plenty of opportunity for all of our clients to take advantage of this new capability,” he said.

It might be a while before all of AMC’s addressable inventory is used in addressable campaigns.

"We’re probably ahead of the majority of the market,” Adlman said. “There’s a large amount of education that still has to happen within the industry on how to execute these types of campaign and how to implement these capabilities across a linear network.” ■

Measurement company 605 said it named Tom Keaveney as president.

Keaveney had been a director at AdScribe, an ad tech company in Dublin, Ireland that was acquired by 605 last year.

He will report to 605 co-founder and CEO Kristin Dolan. 605 co-founder Ben Tatta was president until he left in 2019. He joined Standard Media Index last year.

“We were first introduced to Tom during our negotiation and subsequent acquisition of Adscribe,“ Dolan said. ”We are extremely enthusiastic to welcome him to the team and leverage his skill and experience in general management, sales and revenue acumen and overall executive presence. At a time in which our industry is changing rapidly, we are thrilled to have him leading our growth plans, with a focus on building market share and deepening client relationships.”

In this new role, Keaveney will be responsible for the company’s response to opportunities to provide accurate measurement and actionable insights for clients.

605 earlier this week announced plans to launch 605 Exchanges, which would provide a currency for ad buyers and sellers that would provide an alternative to Nielsen.

“Joining 605, particularly at this moment as the company undergoes dramatic growth and with the industry evolving rapidly, is an unparalleled opportunity. I look forward to working with Kristin and the rest of 605’s talented team to add more depth around our ability to support clients across the entire lifecycle of TV advertising,” Keaveney said.

“As data becomes increasingly scarce and less available, 605 is in a unique position with its long-term access to data secure, its processes around privacy robust and its analytic capabilities unmatched. I am confident that the work we are doing today will place us in a position to win based on these differentiating factors,” he said. ■

605, the measurement and analytics company backed by Cablevision Systems’ Dolan family is jumping into the competition to create alternative currencies to Nielsen, whose numbers have been used for generations to buy and sell media.

The opportunity to launch the 605 Exchange trading currency opened up when Nielsen, already under fire from TV networks for undercounting viewing during the pandemic, lost its accreditation from the Media Rating Council--the industry’s seal of approval, 605 founder and CEO Kristin Dolan told Broadcasting+Cable.

“We had a business plan we were very comfortable with and products that we're very comfortable with. What really changed is we started to get inbound calls about [providing a currency]. People we‘ve known for decades from programmer groups and other places were asking us ‘why aren’t you guys doing it,'” Dolan said.

“If your customer is begging you to do something because they think you can do it, it would be pretty stupid not to take a big swing,” she said.

Dolan started 605 in 2016. Because 605’s data platform is already scaled up, measuring audiences and advertising effectiveness, she said it will cost 605 less than $10 million to build its currency capability. A vendor to build the additional tech infrastructure has been selected.

Also: Five Years Later, Kristin Dolan’s 605 Is in a New Measurement World

Dolan expects to have a product ready by the middle of 2022, around the time of the upfronts.

605 Exchange will be designed to be a stable, accurate, consistent, and always on medium of exchange for buying and selling video advertising across platforms.

605 plans to launch an Open Partner Program as part of its currency initiative. The program will enlist programmers, agencies and advertisers to collaborate with 605 to ensure 605 Exchange meets their needs and has value for media buyers and sellers. 

Since Nielsen lost its accreditation, the industry has moved more urgently to find alternatives, including formal processes for finding innovative measurement approaches being conducted by NBCUniversal and the VAB. 

Also: OpenAP’s XPm Providing Cross-Platform Metrics With Multiple Measurement Companies

Observers see a half dozen companies vying to provide currency along with Nielsen, including Comscore, iSpot.tv, VideoAmp and 605. ViacomCBS announced in September it plans to use ViacomAmp data as currency for some national media deals. Eventually competition will whittle those half dozen competitors down to two or three providers.

Also: ViacomCBS Expands TV Ratings Deal with Comscore

Things are moving fast because there’s a concern that the window of opportunity could close if Nielsen is re-accredited.

“We think there will be two or three and one of those will be 605. That’s probably what the market will bear,” said Tom Keaveney, recently named president of 605. Keaveney was a director at AdScribe when 605 made a strategic investment in AdScribe in 2020.

Keaveney said 605 started by measuring advertising on linear TV and is folding in data about digital video to create a multi-platform measurement. “We feel like we’ve solved the hard part,” he said. “We think it’s easier starting where we’re starting than doing the inverse.”

Becoming a currency is a big deal because measurement currencies are used to make transactions in a market worth $70 billion. The providers of the currency get lucrative fees from the media sellers, a system that’s likely to continue.

“This is an evolution that’s going to play out over the next 10 years. The media are trying to future-proof  the way advertising is transacted long terms, especially with cross-platform playing into this," Keaveney said. 

605 Exchange will initially be made available to its Open Partner Program participants as a tracking currency in 2022 ahead of the upfronts. At first, it will focus on national premium video, including linear long-form and brand safe digital video. It will add categories, features and functions based on the input from users and demand in the marketplace.

“For decades, I’ve been focused on the challenge of accurately measuring viewing behavior in a way that increases the value of advertising for programmers, agencies and advertisers,” said Caroline Horner, chief product officer at 605. “The development and launch of 605 Exchange along with creation of our Open Partner Program will provide an opportunity for the smartest minds in the industry to join us in creating the best solution – one that uses our data science, analytic expertise and technology to improve outcomes at the right value.”

The 605 platform is currently used by programmers , agencies and brands. Based on viewing information from 22 million U.S. households, the platform takes in 1.2 billion bits of audience and advertising data daily.■

OpenAP, the advanced advertising company, said it launched XPm, which gives advertisers the cross-platform campaign metrics they have been demanding with a choice of measurement companies.

Measurement companies Comscore, iSpot, Nielsen, VideoAmp and 605 are working with OpenAP, along with Innovid, which is offering enhancements to digital measurement for use in XPm reporting.

The measurement companies have found ways to integrate their own process for identifying consumers with OpenAP’s OpenID. Buyers using the OpenAP platform will be able to pick which provider they want to handle measurement (most buyers already have contractual relationships enabling them to use data from the providers involved).

Media agencies GroupM, dentsu and Horizon Media are among the first agencies to buy campaigns using XPm to plan and measure the targeted impressions delivered by their client’s advanced advertising campaigns.

“Now advertisers can actually have an understanding of who they’re reaching on a de-duplicated basis,” David Levy, CEO of OpenAP told Broadcasting+Cable. “They wanted choice, so we’ve brought in multiple providers and we’ve had strong buy-side adoption already and continued participation.”

OpenAP’s announcement comes at a time when measuring the de-duplicated reach and frequency of campaigns running on both linear TV and digital video has become increasingly difficult. Measurement in general has become more of an issue across the TV industry, with networks, media agencies and advertisers seeking alternatives to Nielsen, the often criticized leader in the field.

The inability to get reliable cross-platform metrics has been a significant speedbump for switching from planning and buying campaigns based on traditional age and sex demographics like women 18 to 49 to more specific targets based on factors including consumer behavior, such as suburban women who drive SUVs whose leaser are up in the next six months.

“Measurement that keeps pace with our industry's rapidly changing shift to on-demand consumption and addressable advertising can only be scaled when buyers and sellers get behind an idea and support it," said Matt Sweeney, GroupM North America chief investment officer. "OpenAP’s OpenID and XPm solution is a critical step in enabling true cross-platform measurement and audience delivery a reality for our clients."

Open AP was formed in 2017 by Fox, Viacom and Turner Broadcasting to offer standards for defining advanced targets. Open AP has since been transformed into a company owned by media companies including Fox, Comcast/NBCU and ViacomCBS offering one-stop shopping and optimized campaigns to advertisers looking to create data-targeted campaigns.

Most large media companies are working with OpenAP. The media companies provide information about the inventory they have available for targeted campaigns, but transactions are done between the media company and the advertiser and its agency.

Levy said that OpenAP’s volume is up 75% to 100% from last year to well over nine figures per quarter. GroupM, dentsu and Horizon are running all of their advanced audience campaign through OpenAP’s platform, he said.

Having a better way to measure those campaigns can only help. “We’ve been pretty stagnant from a measurement innovation perspective for a long time,” Levy said. “The idea that billions of dollars are transacted in this and yet as a marketer, there is still an issue with being able to count how many people you reached in linear and not having that match up with anything you’re doing in digital. It’s kind of crazy.”

OpenAP announced in April that most media companies and media buyer had signed up for its new OpenID platform, and that would clear the way for the Holy Grail of cross-platform measurement.

In addition to helping advertisers ensure they’re spending their ad dollars effectively, cross platform measurement is important to avoid showing consumers the same commercial over and over, ruining the viewer experience.

“We all compete for consumers' time and if we deliver bad experiences, well, then we can’t fault anyone but ourselves if people continue to leave television,” Levy said.

There are three components necessary for delivering cross platform measurement. The first is to use the same targeting segments across all transactional environments, whether the media inventory being bought is linear, CTV, mobile or addressable. Step two is being able to ingest the impression level delivery data and a common ID system.

Those are done. “Now we have the ability to create a campaign on one audience and distribute that audience to any publisher and deliver that to a measurement provider so they can produce cross-platform measurement,” Levy said.

The measurement companies do the third thing by processing the data and providing reports.

The VAB’s new Measurement Innovation Task Force will operate as the governing body of XPm in order to create common standards and establish controls on how data is used on behalf of TV publishers. Measurement company requirements will be defined by the Task Force, with all solutions subject to validation and verification by the VAB to ensure transparency of methodology and technical integration with OpenID.

“This is a seminal moment for the TV ecosystem, which is only just at the beginning of an era of tremendous innovation, collaboration and transparency. The future of video advertising will be built on and shaped by modern measurement solutions that allow for competition in the marketplace and more choice for advertisers — which is delivered by this initiative on an open stage. The coming months and year ahead will be defined as a period of game-changing advancement for our industry,” said VAB CEO Sean Cunningham.

At this point, OpenAP has not seen wide variances between the audiences reported by the different measurement companies. That’s important as media companies and buyers start to use a variety of currencies to transact as well as plan and measure.

“There are differences in methodology, but we’re not really seeing wild swings,” Levy said. “I think the publishers need to make sure that the currencies are all stable so that they’re able to provide pricing in a reliable way.”■

The measurement world has changed a lot since five years ago, when 605 was assembled by Kristin Dolan backed by Dolan Family Ventures.

While original 605 staffers are getting clocks to mark their fifth anniversary with the firm, some are speculating that Nielsen’s time may be up as the dominant player in the TV measurement business following criticism from clients and the suspension of its accreditation by the Media Rating Council.

Dolan tells Broadcasting+Cable she never saw Nielsen as competition when she got into the business. 

While Nielsen’s ratings were the currency for the media business, 605’s mission was to generate the kind of information about television that advertisers were used to getting from online media to keep ad dollars from leaving TV.

“It’s not about the future of TV measurement,” Dolan said. ”It’s about the future of TV advertising. What we do is we do planning, optimization, attribution. And we’re now working on the nirvana of the future, which is prediction: ’If I buy this media, what will it get me in results?’ ”

While 605 may not compete with Nielsen, Nielsen’s current problems have other companies in the TV business looking for more precise data and new providers.

“I will say the phone has rung a few times,” Dolan said.

One of those phone calls reportedly came from NBCUniversal, which sent requests for proposals to dozens of companies in the data, measurement and analytics business in a bid to make the industry less dependent on Nielsen. Dolan declined to comment on the NBCU process.

Filling a ‘Data Lake’

Over the course of its five years, 605 has created what Dolan calls a data lake. It has 1.3 trillion lines of data in its database, which takes up 6 petabytes of storage (that’s 1,000 terabytes).

“Every night, we onboard 300 million viewing events,” she said. “We marry that up and say what ads ran during those tuning events, and we get 2 billion records a day of anonymized viewing activity.” That data goes back to 2017, Dolan said, giving 605 a basis to look back and see how campaigns performed and a way to predict how similar campaigns will perform in the future.

That data also helps 605 measure campaigns across linear, digital and connected TV. Lots of newer companies can measure CTV, but getting good measurement of broadcast is much harder but necessary to evaluate omnichannel campaigns.

“As much as people think broadcast television and cable television are dead, they’re not going anywhere for a long time,“ Dolan said. ”And if you’re only looking at connected TV and digital measurement, you’re missing a piece of the pie.” 

All that data is expensive to store and operationalize, Dolan said, but 605 is getting much faster at responding to advertiser queries. “A report that used to take two months to do when we were at Cablevision Media Sales, with people combing through Excel spreadsheets, we could do in 55 minutes a year ago and now we can do it in seven minutes,” said Dolan, who served as chief operating officer at Cablevision Systems until its 2016 acquisition by Altice USA. 

605 is working on creating a predictive product. “I don’t want to give a timeline, but it is definitely on our road map,” Dolan said. The company aims to help advertisers identify persuadable consumers who, if reached with the right message, are likely to become purchasers. “I always feel bad saying it, but our behavior is relatively predictable. If you have the right inputs, you can figure out what the outputs are going to be.”

Relationships a Key Asset

In addition to its data lake, 605 also has valuable relationships. A key client is Walmart. An important data provider is Charter Communications, which renewed its long-term agreement with 605 in June. It also works with nearly all of the major programmers to help them measure how effective the campaigns they sell are. “Attribution is additive,” she said.

Companies in the ad tech, data and analytics business have also been involved in a dizzying round of merger, acquisition and initial public offering activity. That has Dolan’s phone ringing as well.

“It’s all about the SPAC,” Dolan joked, referring to the special purpose acquisition companies being financed to take startups public.

“We’re always going to listen, but that being said we’re very comfortable continuing down our own path,” Dolan said of the offers being made for 605.

People are in the market for companies like 605 because it’s involved in media buying transactions worth billions of dollars and because the allure of television and the media business makes it a bit sexy. “It’s big data. It's media. It’s a cool place to be,” she said.

“We have some big companies, but this is our baby,” she said. “It’s been a ton of work. I’m way too old to have done a start-up. We’ve been having some really interesting conversations, but we don’t have a specific plan of action that we need to pursue.”

Measurement company 605 said it has reached a new agreement with Charter Communications that extends its access to viewers' data from Charter subscribers.

605 is one of a number of analytics and attribution companies that use big data to measure programming consumption and advertising effectiveness in a more complex media environment.

Charter earlier this year was part of a group that made a major investment in Comscore, prompting some speculation that Charter might restrict the number of companies it provides with data.

Also Read: Walmart to Use 605 Platform to Improve TV Ad Planning

The new 605 deal runs through 2031. It also includes a commitment by Charter to purchase more of 605's portfolio of products and services.

“We’re greatly looking forward to Charter’s utilization of 605’s products and services to demonstrate the value of the capabilities we have worked so hard to introduce to the marketplace,” said Kristin Dolan, founder and CEO of 605. 

605 was started with backing from Dolan Family Ventures.

“As we enter our fifth year of partnership with Charter, we are very pleased to have reached an agreement that enables us to utilize their rich data set, in conjunction with our other data partners, to further advance measurement, analytics and attribution through our industry-leading products, 605 PLATF0RM and 605 IMP4CT. This enhanced relationship positions our company well for continued growth and success,” Dolan said.

Also Read; 605 Beefs Up Capabilities With New Data Alliances

In addition to its other products, 605 built an Audience App product that was audited by KPMG and achieved service organization control 3 (SOC3) compliance.

“We are excited to extend and expand our relationship with 605,” said Tom Montemagno, executive VP, programming acquisition and Charter’s representative on the 605 board of directors.

“605’s capabilities have allowed us to revolutionize our approach to advertising sales and will continue to be instrumental as we provide clients with the best possible ability to reach targeted audiences. We will be working with 605 to inform our own marketing efforts around content and for our products and services,” he said. “As the future of our industry changes, there is no substitute for high-quality insights. With 605 we can be certain that we have the right data tools and solutions to ensure advertising delivers a real and meaningful return for Charter and our clients.”

Samba TV, the advertising and analytics company, said it reached an agreement with measurement company 605 that provides Samba TV with exclusive addressable access to some of 605’s viewer data.

The deal grows Samba TV’s addressable TV footprint to 28 million devices. The scale will enable Samba TV to help clients target campaigns more precisely on connected TV and increase effectiveness by reducing time-shifting and ad-skipping.

“With significant disruption in the advertising landscape, we are excited to provide marketers a platform that delivers massive scale in reach, precision in targeting, and transparency into performance so that they can confidently invest in campaigns as new streaming options emerge, viewing behaviors rapidly shift, and advertising identities disappear,” said Samba TV co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin. “Samba TV’s first-party data, augmented by this exclusive partnership with 605, provides our customers access to a comprehensive end-to-end view into the effectiveness of advertising across all of the screens we use to watch video.”

Samba TV’s automatic content recognition technology is integrated into 24 of the top smart TV set brands. Samba TV integrates its first-party data with data harvested from set-top boxes to improve its household-level targeting.

605 provides advertising and content measurement, full-funnel attribution, media planning, and optimization in an anonymized and privacy-compliant manner..

“We are pleased to partner with Samba TV around privacy-compliant omniscreen targeting,” said 605 CEO and founder Kristin Dolan. “605 has built advanced technologies around our viewership data that allows brands to more simply and effectively reach the right audiences. This partnership with Samba is a positive move to further that objective.”

TV measurement and attribution company 605 said it signs an agreement with Walmart, which will use insights from the 605 Platf0rm to enhance its TV planning and analytics capabilities.

Walmart has worked with 605 to generate insights into the audiences and impact of Walmart’s linear ad campaigns. Under the new deal, 605 will work with Walmart to generate additional analytics about its advertising.

“605 has been an outstanding collaborator with Walmart and their data and analytics solutions have proven very effective at helping achieve new insights and measurement capabilities on our investments in television advertising,” said Tom Tang, VP of marketing analytics at Walmart. “We are excited to augment our capabilities with 605 Platf0rm and begin utilizing their technology."

The 605 Platf0rm is a web-based application for advanced measurement and analysis of TV programs and commercials across linear, over-the-air, DVR and set-top-box VOD.

605 Platf0rm users can select, activate and target first- or third-party audience segments or datasets while protecting customers’ personal information. Clients can bring their own digital content and ad campaign data for additional cross-screen insights, planning and attribution capabilities.

“Walmart is widely recognized for their efforts to attract consumers across all of their brands with a focus on providing value and choice,” said Kristin Dolan, CEO and founder of 605. "We are excited to work more closely with their marketing and advertising teams to explore the opportunities of overlaying Walmart’s deep understanding of their customers with our deterministic dataset of more than 21 million U.S. households.”

TV measurement and analytics company 605 said it made data deals with Catalina, PlaceIQ and Polk Automotive solutions by IHS Market that will enable the company to faster and more accurately measure campaigns and analyze their impact in the marketplace.

The data firms bring 605 additional information about shopper intelligence, geo-location and auto purchases. Combined with its TV viewing data from 21 million households, 605 will be able to report on the consumer behavior and business outcomes resulting from ad campaigns via ad campaigns via its PLATF0RM TV measurement service and its attribution offering IMP4CT.

“605 is committed to providing marketers, advertisers and programmers with the most complete audience data and analytic tools for insights, measurement and attribution of TV and cross-screen campaigns," said Kristin Dolan, 605’s founder and CEO. "Our ability to deterministically match audience data with TV viewership on a census-level scale, partnered with the capabilities of fellow industry leaders in the data and analytics space, helps facilitate improved outcomes. Catalina, PlaceIQ and IHS Markit are outstanding partners who share our demonstrated commitment to faster and deeper insights, more effective outcomes and a more sophisticated approach to measurement and attribution.”

605 has been building up capabilities to understand how viewers are watching TV across linear, time shifted and digital content, enabling marketers to target the audiences they want.

“As a big believer in the importance of closed loop measurement for brands and retailers, Catalina is proud to partner with 605 as a like-minded company focused on identifying and delivering the most impactful audiences – and measurable results,” said Brian Dunphy, senior VP, channel sales, strategic partnerships & business development. “605 has been advancing the TV industry’s standard of measurement, and we are thrilled to contribute Catalina shopper intelligence data and insights to this effort.”

“Being trusted as the location data provider to 605’s audience targeting and measurement dataset is a testament not only to our shared data standards, but our united strategic focus of finding innovative ways to deliver value to our clients," added Brian Bradtke, VP of partner development at PlaceIQ. "We are happy to join 605 and other esteemed leaders at the forefront of the shift toward newer, more granular, viewership and measurement solutions."  

TV measurement and analytics company 605 said it launched a new attribution app that measures the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

AMC Networks and Discovery have already signed up to use the product.

605 Imp4ct is a self-service, web-based application based on viewing data from 21 million households that provides full-funnel information on campaign performance. 

“The ability to comprehend the impact of linear campaigns in a world where consumers are moving across devices with increased fluidity is more important than ever,” said Noah Levine, chief revenue officer at 605. “605 Imp4ct empowers users with timely audience attribution information, allowing programmers, advertisers and agencies to determine how and where to spend their next television dollar in a way that optimizes their return on investment.”

605, backed by the Dolan family, said TV attribution tools remain challenged by small sample sizes and preferred ad exposure data. The company’s new product gives programmers, advertisers and agencies a data-based understanding of which networks audiences and creative drive the best results.

“As consumer media consumption habits continue to shift widely across different devices and platforms, there is a more urgent need for common metrics to help guide marketing and promotional decision-making. AMC Networks is excited to partner with 605 Imp4ct to bring our marketing partners the opportunity to drive effectiveness and results around their campaigns and create the outcomes they are looking for,” said Kim Kelleher, president of commercial revenue and partnerships, AMC Networks.

“Over the past few years, Discovery has been at the forefront of developing attribution capabilities for data-driven television, building an extensive library of attribution case studies across all major category verticals and multiple conversion metrics,” said Keith Kazerman, executive VP, sales, advanced advertising and research, at Discovery. “In continuing to extend our capabilities, we look forward to using Imp4ct to expand our ability to deliver full funnel outcomes to our advertisers. With tangible insights provided through the platform, advertisers will be empowered to improve performance over time.”

605, an advanced data and analytics company focused on the media and entertainment industries, has hired Sal Romanello as general counsel.

At 605, Romanello will be focused on drafting and negotiation of client and vendor agreements relating to data and information licensing, and professional service agreements, as well as providing general legal support and counsel to the entire organization, the company said.

RELATED: Charter Invests In, Partners With Dolan-Backed 605 for Advanced Advertising

Prior to joining 605, Romanello was a partner in the Complex Commercial Litigation Practice Group at the international law firm of Weil, Gotshal &  Manges LLP. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Fordham Law Alumni Association, and serves as chair of its Engagement Committee. He also serves as a member of the Rockville Centre Zoning Board of Appeals.  Romanello has a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, and received his J.D. from the Fordham University School of Law.

New York-based 605 launched late last year following the acquisition of Analytics Media Group (AMG) by Dolan Family Ventures, the newly formed investment fund run by former Cablevision Systems execs Kristin and James Dolan that provides census-based TV measurement.

RELATED: Dolan Family Ventures Launches Data and Analytics Company 

“The needs and the complexity of our business are growing rapidly and it is therefore important to have counsel with deep expertise across legal, compliance, regulatory and business strategy,” Kristin Dolan, founder and CEO of 605, said in a statement. “Sal is someone who is passionate about pioneering a new field, partnering with stakeholders across our organization, and growing as our company grows and we are thrilled he is bringing his 20+ years of experience to 605.”

605, an advanced data and analytics firm focused on the media and entertainment sectors, has appointed Daniel Berg to the new post of chief technology officer.

Berg will oversee 605’s internal IT, cybersecurity and other key elements of 605’s products and report to company founder and CEO Kristin Dolan.

He is also late of companies that include Rockit Solutions (a former subsidiary of Rockefeller & Co Inc.) and First Reserve Corporation, where Berg had served as CTO and CIO. He was also a member of the Microsoft CIO Advisory Council from 2014 to 2015.

New York-based 605 launched late last year following the acquisition of Analytics Media Group (AMG) by Dolan Family Ventures, the newly formed investment fund run by former Cablevision Systems execs Kristin and James Dolan that provides census-based TV measurement.

In July, 605 announced a data-driven advanced ad partnership with Charter Communications.

“I am confident Dan’s deep expertise in business strategy, combined with his track record of success in bringing technology services and products from concept to deployment, are exactly what we need to move 605 forward and continue to grow our business,” Kristin Dolan, said in a  statement. “As a business and technology leader, Dan is adept at aligning technology teams and deliverables with business and revenue goals.”

Charter Communications has made an undisclosed investment in advanced data and analytics firm 605 as part of a broader partnership that will help the MSO offer more impression-based, targeted advertising opportunities in all its markets.  

New York-based 605 launched late last year following the acquisition of Analytics Media Group (AMG) by Dolan Family Ventures, the newly formed investment fund run by former Cablevision Systems execs Kristin and James Dolan that provides census-based TV measurement.

RELATED: Dolan Family Ventures Launches Data and Analytics Company

Under the partnership, Charter will provide 605 with aggregated and anonymized set-top data from all of its U.S. cable systems. In turn, 605 will use its own proprietary data infrastructure and analytics systems to enhance advertising and campaign measurement solutions for Spectrum Reach, the ad sales division of Charter.

605 will be used to help power Spectrum Reach’s AudienceApp, a tool for linear media planning and optimization. Charter, which introduced AudienceApp in New York during a NewFront presentation in May, said Spectrum Reach plans to launch the product in Austin, Texas, on August 15, and complete the roll out across the MSO’s footprint by mid-2018.

RELATED: Charter Adds Advanced Ad Products at NewFronts

“Everybody is using data now, but not a lot of people can make sense of it,” David Kline, EVP at Charter and president of Spectrum Reach, said. “We felt that 605 and their management team would be terrific partners because they understand data. We think it could be a great venture between the two of us."

He said 605 has been helping Charter build AudienceApp, a media planning tool that optimizes linear television buys. By way of example, Kline explained that the app could help a car dealership target specific territories and audiences and get more bang from their buck by employing an optimized schedule of available TV ad inventory.

The data used is aggregate and does not use any personally identifiable information (PII), but it can highly optimize the ad schedule to reach the homes desired, he said.

“We’re really going to use it as the backbone of all our local sales opportunities across 41 states, 100 DMAs and about 1,500 commissioned sales people,” said Kline, an industry vet who joined Charter in 2015 and is also late of Visible World (now part of Comcast), Ensequence, and was previously president and COO of  Cablevision Media Sales (Cablevision Systems is now part of Altice USA).”This is a whole new way for us to sell.”

Kristin Dolan, CEO and founder of 605, said the Charter agreement represents a unique partnership opportunity for her company. At the same time, 605, she added, licenses data from other third parties and is moving ahead on goal to do what it’s doing for Charter on a national basis for programmers and brands in a PII-compliant way.

She said it also speaks to a broader trend in which data, targeting and impression-based campaigns become a critical part of the TV advertising world.

"I think it really is the culmination of a desire for people to continue to utilize television, but wanting this specialized targeting that they experience with digital," she said. "We're obviously strong believers in TV. We're big believers in an optimized media mix, but TV has to be a part of most advertisers' initiatives...but not just targeted advertising to drive impulse-buying and specific buying, but also for brand development and for brand loyalty."

605 also announced that Kline and James Blackley, EVP, engineering and information technology at Charter, are part of an initial board that also includes Kristin Dolan, who is also managing partner of Dolan Family Ventures, and James Dolan, now executive chairman of The Madison Square Garden Company.

Investment banking firm PJT Partners is providing consulting services to Dolan Family Ventures and provided advisory support for the Charter partnership.

Anyone who has spent any time in the TV business has heard the mantra before: This year is advanced advertising’s year. But unlike the past two decades, in which many a promising ad-tech initiative has stumbled, cable and broadcast executives may finally have the incentive to make targeted ads reality.

For advanced advertising — using the torrent of data from set-top boxes, digital and mobile devices to target messages to specific households and individuals — the erosion of the traditional TV model could be the force that frees the technology. As viewing habits have shifted away from linear TV, distributors, networks and advertisers themselves all have a vested interest in reaching that elusive market.

“When models reach the breaking point, that’s when breakouts happen,” Tom Rogers, chairman of TRget Media LLC and the former TiVo CEO, said in an interview. “It’s been clear for some time that the traditional linear TV model has had its challenges. We’re really beginning to see some things happen that are very, very significant accelerations.”

And networks, distributors and ad buyers alike are buying in, with distributors like Comcast and Altice USA snapping up small ad-tech companies, networks forming consortiums like OpenAP to identify opportunities and set standards, and even, in the case of NBCUniversal, devoting a growing piece of their ad budgets to targeting.

Related: The Future of Television Is Now

In March, NBCU said it would offer about $1 billion in inventory to targeted ads this year. And at the recent upfronts, NBCU chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships Linda Yaccarino slammed the questionable reach of some digital ads.

“Has a ‘view’ ever bought any of your products?” Yaccarino asked at NBCU’s May 15 upfront event. “Has a ‘like’ ever walked into a store? … Viewers buy products.”

Related: Data Drives Some Talk at Upfront Presentations [subscription required]

First-Quarter Slippage
Exacerbating the need for more focused ads is the mounting evidence that cord-cutting, cord-shaving and skinny programming bundles are gaining steam. In the first quarter, the pay TV distribution market fell by 762,000 subscribers, the single largest first-quarter decline ever, according to MoffettNathanson. And once indestructible brands, like The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN, have seen their subscriber bases shrink as viewers move to other venues and devices to fill their content needs.

ESPN has lost between 12 million and 13 million subscribers from its peak and plans to launch a direct-to-consumer service targeted at younger viewers later this year. At the same time, ratings stalwart the National Football League saw its ratings fall 9% last year (double that for the coveted 18-24 year old demographic), while other sports are getting older. Meanwhile, younger viewers are staying away from the living room TV set.

According to TechCrunch, viewers are watching 1 billion hours of YouTube video clips per day.

Related: OTT Players Poised to Win TV’s Future [subscription required]

Traditional distributors and programmers are taking notice. Comcast has purchased several ad-tech companies over the past few years, including FreeWheel, StickyAds.tv and Visible World. Altice USA bought advanced ad company Audience Partners in March, and in April programmers Viacom, Turner and 21st Century Fox formed consortium OpenAP to standardize the way targeted audiences are defined and measured.

The TV industry still has some time before the ad model completely disintegrates, Pivotal Research Group senior analyst Brian Weiser said.

“To me, it’s evolutionary, not revolutionary,” Wieser said. “Ratings can fall by double digits, yet traditional TV is a source of premium video content with adjacent advertising opportunities. It continues to dwarf everything else.”

Industry group the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) pegged digital video ad revenue at about $9.1 billion in 2016, compared with $69 billion for TV ads.

Wieser said a dramatic shift in viewers could sway the market, but it would have to be very dramatic.

“For TV to find itself in a position where advertisers would all of a sudden make radical changes, you would have to find a good core of the audience evaporate,” Wieser said. “And by evaporate I mean reach goes away.”

The emergence of groups like OpenAP are more a means to show the industry that programmers are not out of step with the times, Weiser said, adding that perception is a bigger force of change in the ad market than reality.

“Decisions end up getting made based on the perception of how things are going, and fear,” Wieser said. He pointed to the TV ad market in 2015, which to some was the indicator that the traditional TV ad model had broken, but was, Wieser said, merely a bad year made to look worse by unfavorable comparables to the prior year. In 2016, when heavy ad spending by such daily fantasy sports sites as FanDuel and DraftKings spurred the TV market, the problem appeared to be solved. Now in 2017, the ad market is in decline again.

“What’s happening now is what people feared would happen a couple of years ago,” Wieser said. “Cost constraints are more pronounced than they have ever been. Now we’re at a place where I’m feeling doubtful that national TV will grow again. But it’s not because of digital, per se.”

At TVSquared, an ad-tech company that tracks brand traffic and helps advertisers choose how to target their messages, chief technology officer Kevin O’Reilly agreed fears the TV ad model is dead are overblown.

O’Reilly said the TV apocalypse has been coming for the past 15 years, and this wave is being fueled by the emergence of the second screen.

“If the apocalypse is coming, it’s coming slowly,” he said. But he added that ad buyers and sellers are realizing that both traditional and advanced models can coexist.

“Advertisers are saying, look, I know linear TV works, it really does drive efficient traffic. And one of the big benefits of efficiency is if I can find a way to be slightly more efficient in an efficient marketplace, I’m going to make money,” O’Reilly said. “There is major value in still reaching a very large audience, I just want to make sure I’m reaching the right part of that audience. And when I’m not reaching the right part of the audience, I can change my buy and optimize it into parts where I’m seeing it perform better.”

Getting to that point will probably take a round of consolidation in the business, Rogers said, creating one-stop shops for participants to access the expertise they need.

“The problem is, there are so many silos, so many companies, that it is a bit of a mess,” Rogers said, adding that there is an increasing need to put ad-tech solutions under a single roof. “Until that is solved, it’s going to be difficult for a massive breakthrough.”

The convergence of ad tech and distribution has been a long time coming with the inherent convergence of data-driven advertising and those who compile the data, said Waller Capital Partners managing director Roddy Moon, who leads the boutique investment bank’s digital media practice and who has covered the ad-tech sector since its early days.

Related: Waller Capital's Video Services Consolidation Chart

Helping to spur along that convergence is the dominance of digital behemoths Google and Facebook in the digital ad space. Morgan Stanley estimates that about 85 cents of every new online ad dollar goes to those two companies.

“There are still a tremendous number of companies chasing that remaining 15 cents,” Moon said. “But that’s just digital ad spend; the 800-pound gorilla is still TV ad budgets.”

To address that market, Moon said, the industry is beginning to realize it needs a common, integrated data-driven platform. With scores of small, medium and large ad-tech companies out there, many are realizing that creating a one-stop shop for distributors, content owners and advertisers can help the development along.

“It used to be that it was an ‘either-or’ mentality,” Moon said of the ad-tech business. “You were either digital or traditional television. Now there is more of a mindset from the marketing side that it should be holistic.”

Cable Jumps In, Too
At the same time, cable and telco distributors are trying to dispel the notion that others are taking over this emerging business. Comcast started buying ad-tech firms in 2005, with Strata Marketing, followed by Seattle-based thePlatform in 2006. In the past three years, Comcast has purchased video ad startup FreeWheel (2014), This Technology (2015), Visible World (2015) and StickyAds (2016), all with a view toward offering more targeted ad product.

Earlier this month, Comcast named Marcien Jenckes, a former ad-tech entrepreneur, as president of advertising. Jenckes has held several roles at Comcast since joining the company in 2010 — he was most recently executive vice president of consumer services at Comcast Cable, where he oversaw its video, internet, voice and Xfinity Home businesses.

The newest entry to the U.S. cable space — Altice USA, a unit of European telecom company Altice N.V. — has also dipped its toes in the ad-tech space. Altice USA purchased Suddenlink Communications in December 2015 for $9.1 billion and in June 2016 bought Cablevision Systems for $17.7 billion, making it the fourth largest cable operator in the country with 4.6 million residential and business services subscribers.

Cablevision had been a pioneer in taking a digital-like approach to advertising, Altice USA chief data officer Paul Haddad said. Haddad had served as senior vice president and general manager of advanced data and analytics at Cablevision, playing a key role in its advanced advertising strategy.

That expertise and experience now in demand in the business, Haddad said, and advertisers and networks, who may have given advanced ads short shrift in the past, are getting a lot more serious.

“We’re being asked to discuss our strategy with major players,” Haddad said. “In previous years, people were assessing the value proposition, versus today I can sense they want to test, they want to discuss business plans. To us, this is the real sign that, yes, we think it’s going to start gaining major traction starting this year. In 18 to 24 months I could see it becoming a standard request when it comes to advertising in the industry.”

Already, some early aggregators are beginning to emerge. In 2016, former Cablevision CEO James Dolan and his wife, former cable company chief operating officer Kristin, formed Dolan Family Ventures, an investment company focused on the ad-tech space. Dolan Family Ventures formed data analytics company 605 shortly after its purchase of Analytics Media Group, a New York-based data analytics specialist. The idea behind 605 is to combine AMG’s analytics and technology platform with set-top box data to provide clients with the kind of information that can help them develop targeted, optimized ad campaigns.

Kristin Dolan serves as CEO of 605, overseeing a management team that includes several former AMG and Cablevision ad executives, including former Cablevision Media Sales president Ben Tatta.

As ad buyers, distributors and networks become increasingly frustrated over how ads are sold, targeting will gain traction, Kristin Dolan said in an interview.

“In order to continue selling television advertising, the advertisers and the brands are expecting that they will get the same capability to target people that they have been experiencing on digital for years,” she said. “The time has come.”

And with NBCUniversal committing $1 billion to targeted inventory and consortiums like OpenAP emerging, she added that she sees the light at the end of the targeting tunnel.

“Television advertising is a great medium; [it’s] the best way to reach large audiences,” Dolan said. “Coupled with targeted calls to action, it really allows the brand to be more effective. Hopefully in the next 12 to 18 months, you will see significant increase in utilization to drive the industry forward. Buyers are demanding it, and the sellers like NBC are responding, as are the MVPDs. Everybody seems finally ready to move on this.”

That buyers are finally stepping up to the advanced ad plate is a significant development. In the past, as cable companies and data firms touted their ability to pinpoint homes via set-top box data, buyers have dismissed the technology as not being specific enough. An age-old argument against targeted ads was that just knowing a household buys dog food isn’t enough; advertisers wanted to know who was buying it and what they were watching.

Getting Real
But advances in data have made what was once the Holy Grail of targeted advertising a reality.

“Now you can do that,” One2One Media president Michael Bologna, a 20-year veteran of the advanced advertising business, said. “Media marketers are getting pressure from CMOs, and they are now pushing their buyers and their agencies and they are now changing the conversation.

“Will there be a time when an advertiser will say, ‘I completely don’t care what the program is as long as I know it’s the audience?’ We’re definitely headed down that road in certain ways, but content will always play a factor,” Bologna added. “But now that the advertisers are seeing first hand that they can target these granular segments, and they see that targeting these granular segments is generating sales, they are becoming less focused on ‘I have to be on this particular show at this particular time.’ That’s a really interesting and fulfilling trend.”

Bologna said advanced ad addressability won’t take over the TV ad market — he estimated that when fully deployed, 25% to 35% of an advertiser’s ad budget will go to addressable — but it will balance it.

“No major advertiser is ever going to put 100% of their budget toward addressability,” Bologna said. “If you wait until someone is 40 years old to show them a Mercedes ad when they can afford to buy a Mercedes, you’ve missed them. What addressability will ultimately do, in the long run, is help balance the frequency of messaging to the mass audience versus the very niche audience. And between now and then, every advertiser is going to have their own allocation methodology.”

605, the advanced data and analytics company focused on the media and entertainment industry, said it has appointed five execs to help form its senior leadership team, reaching into areas such as analytics, technology, client services and finance.

New York-based 605 launched late last year following the acquisition of Analytics Media Group (AMG) by Dolan Family Ventures, the newly formed investment fund run by former Cablevision Systems execs Kristin and James Dolan.

RELATED: Kristin and James Dolan Form Tech Investment Fund

The new appointments at 605 are:

-Ray Casazza, senior vice president of finance and administration. He previously was VP of financial planning and analysis at Cablevision Systems and Altice USA (which acquired Cablevision last year).

-Colleen Moraghan, senior vice president of data solutions. She most recently was VP of audience measurement at Cablevision.

-Chris Frommann, group vice president of technology. He most recently was founder and VP of engineering for AMG.

-Peter Foley, Ph.D., group vice president of analytics. He joins 605 after serving as director of analytics at AMG.

-Gaurav Shirole, group vice president of product and client solutions. Shirole was a founder of AMG and served as VP of product and client services.

Those execs join 605’s leadership team, comprised of founder and CEO Kristin Dolan; co-founder and president Ben Tatta; EVP of client solutions Chauncey McLean; and SVP of marketing and communications Charlstie Veith.

“Following the acquisition of AMG, we have built a strong management team at 605 – everyone on the team is deeply embedded in the industry and well-suited to drive success for our growing company,” Kristin Dolan said, in a statement. “We are very pleased with the depth, quality and tremendous momentum we have created thus far.”

“We have been working closely with everyone on the senior leadership team at 605, providing clearly defined roles and responsibilities and we feel confident that we have the best team in place to spearhead every facet of our business,” Tatta added.

605 is code for “DCV,” or Data Co. Ventures, the original project name of Dolan Family Ventures. DCV is also the Roman numeral equivalent of 605.

Dolan Family Ventures, the newly formed investment fund run by former Cablevision Systems executives Kristin and James Dolan, has pulled the trigger on its first acquisition and has launched its first company.

RELATED: Kristin and James Dolan Form Tech Investment Fund

That new company, called 605, emerges following the acquisition of Analytics Media Group (AMG), a New York-based data analytics specialist.

605, also based in New York, said it will combine AMG’s analytics and technology platform and set-top box data to provide clients with the kind of information that can help them develop targeted, optimized ad and media campaigns.

The aim of 605, said company founder and CEO Kristin Dolan, centers on “the opportunity to make TV more impactful – having the right data and the right analysis to drive more effective advertising.”

Among the execs joining Kristin Dolan at 605 are company president Ben Tatta, most recently president of Cablevision Media Sales, and EVP of client solutions Chauncey McLean, AMG’s co-founder and chief revenue officer. 605 has just under 50 employees. 

Update:Per the 605 website, other members of the leadership team include other execs who are late of Cablevision -- Ray Casazza (SVP of finance and administration), Colleen Moraghan (SVP of data solutions), and Charlstie Veith (SVP of marketing and communications).

And the significance of the number? 605, we’re told, is code for “DCV,” or Data Co. Ventures, the original project name of Dolan Family Ventures. DCV is also the Roman numeral equivalent of 605.

AMG rose to fame in 2008 for using analytics and set-top data for the 2008 Obama campaign (and worked with the campaign again in 2012), and Walmart is one of its key clients today. AMG had also done some work for Cablevision Systems, which wrapped up its sale to Altice in June.

“It’s a great acquisition for us,” Dolan said, noting that she has had her eyes on AMG for a couple of years. “It’s a combination of really strong, smart young talent, and they have some IP [intellectual property] that we find really interesting, and they have some strong client relationships.”

Moving forward, 605 will focus on clients spanning MVPDs, programmers and ad agencies.

While MVPDs have their own inventory, they are also big consumers of paid media, Dolan said. Major TV networks, meanwhile, are focused on using data and analytics to create customer segmentation and targeting. That same data, she added, can also be valuable to smaller programmers that are trying to get a better fix on the makeup of their viewership. 605 will also work with individual advertisers as well as agencies to optimize their media buys.

"We're very neutral because we're never going to sell media,” said Dolan, who most recently was COO of Cablevision. “The data tells what the data tells, and we can help [our clients] craft custom media plans." 

Though others use set-top data and analytics to help with ad targeting and media plan optimization, 605 will look to stand apart by leaning on census-level, authenticated data a platform from AMG that covers 120 million homes underpinned by segmentation profiles built around more than 1,500 different attributes.

RELATED: AT&T AdWorks Offers 60-Second Addressable Format for Linear TV

“With addressable [advertising] becoming more and more prevalent, there’s an opportunity for people to take the insight and do on television what they’ve been able to do on digital for a long time,” Dolan said.