Simulmedia said it renewed its agreement with Xperi Holding Corp.’s TiVo unit to license TiVo’s viewership data, which Simulmedia employees to plan, target and activate ad campaign on linear and connected television.

At a time of media fragmentation, Simulmedia’s TV Plus platform enables advertisers to reach high-intent consumers at scale.

“Simulmedia’s partnership with TiVo has been a major contributor to the success of our smart, data-driven approach to television advertising for over a decade now,” said Dave Morgan, founder and CEO of Simulmedia. “As the cross-channel TV ecosystem has grown increasingly complex, the demand for reliable data on audience viewing habits is greater than ever. We’re excited to integrate TiVo’s data more deeply into TV Plus to help our clients unlock access to the viewership data they need to better inform how TV can help them meet their business objectives.”

With viewer data from TiVo and other providers, Simulmedia is able to guarantee reach against target audiences without waste or duplication.

“We are excited to extend our long relationship with Simulmedia as it continues to redefine data-driven TV and video advertising to meet the evolving needs of brands, marketers and agencies in an increasingly complex environment," said Fariba Zamaniyan, VP, data and advertising, at TiVo. “Our TV viewership data will continue to provide Simulmedia with a high-quality data set that will support the creation of representative audiences giving their clients the ability to target advertising with confidence in this complex and evolving media environment.”  ■

Simulmedia, a pioneer in targeted and cross-channel TV advertising, said that Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer for Warner Bros. Discovery, has joined Simulmedia’s board of directors.

Steinlauf joins former Turner president David Levy and former General Motors ad sales head Phil Guarascio as directors.

Also: Simulmedia Launches TV Plus Cross-Channel Ad Platform

"Simulmedia has always been at the forefront of data-driven TV advertising, and now with the exciting growth of ad-supported streaming, it has become a trailblazer in providing marketers full audience reach across the dynamic linear and connected TV ecosystem with its TV Plus platform," Steinlauf said. "I am pleased to be part of their Board and to provide strategic direction to help Simulmedia deliver on its promise of certainty, efficiency and speed to its clients and partners across the TV advertising landscape."

Steinlauf was head of ad sales at Discovery when it acquired WarnerMedia. He was head of sales for Scripps Networks Interactive when it was acquired by Discovery. Before that he was VP of ad sales for Turner Broadcasting’s TNT and TBS and director of ad sales at ESPN. He began his career at Young & Rubicam.

"We are super excited to have Jon Steinlauf join the Simulmedia Board of Directors,” said Dave Morgan, Simulmedia CEO and founder. “Jon is one of the very smartest and most innovative leaders in TV and streaming advertising, and at Warner Bros. Discovery, he now oversees one of the largest, most diverse and premium video ad portfolios in the U.S., including Discovery, HGTV, TBS, TNT, Adult Swim, CNN, Turner Sports, Discovery Plus and HBO Max." ■

Simulmedia, a pioneer in using data to target audiences interested in specific products and brands, launched a new platform called TV Plus that provides advertisers and media buyers with access to cable, broadcast and streaming commercial inventory.

As more viewers cut the cable cord and turn to streaming, audiences have become more fragmented and it has become more difficult tor advertisers to reach consumers at scale. The new platform automates planning, buying, activation and measurement and guarantees that advertisers target TV viewers at scale no matter how they’re consuming programming.

“As the fifth generation of our advanced TV platform, TV Plus is the culmination of 14 years of the experience, relationship building and technological innovation needed to make cross-channel TV buying a reality,” said CEO Dave Morgan, who founded Simulmedia in 2008.

Also: Simulmedia Raises $29M in Equity Investments

Numerous streaming services started over the past few years have used the word “plus” in their names, such as Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus. Morgan said that Simulmedia trademarked  the name TV Plus 11 years ago.

“We always anticipated a time when audiences would view premium, ad-supported TV content not just from cable, antenna and satellite delivery, but streamed from the internet, too. And then advertisers would need TV to be targetable and measurable at a granular, unified and transparent audience-based impression level, just like digital,” Morgan added. “That time is now.”

Also: Simulmedia to Make TV Software Available to Networks, Ad Buyers

With over 60 million U.S. households regularly viewing both linear and streaming, TV Plus is designed to identify that overlap and prevent wasteful and expensive audience duplication for brands and their advertising campaigns. Simulmedia can reach 300 million viewers through integrations and partnerships with 250 broadcast, cable and streaming outlets.

Also: Automation Key to Keeping Linear TV in Ad Ballgame

“TV Plus provides us with direct access to every major CTV and linear publisher, allowing our clients to better understand where audiences intersect and how best to reach them,” says Sam Bloom, CEO of Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media, a media buying and planning agency and Simulmedia partner.

Though more media companies are selling their own data-driven linear campaigns, Morgan said that when it comes to data-driven national linear campaigns, “we run more campaigns across more networks for more volume than anyone else.”

He said that for three years in a row, Simulmedia has seen its business grow by more than 35%.■

Video ad-tech company Innovid has appointed John Piccone to chief growth officer, where he’ll head up revenue and strategic business development.

He joins following six years at Simulmedia, where he served in roles such as chief revenue officer and chief strategy officer.

Prior to that, he was SVP of business development and sales strategy at HealthiNation, and was VP of sales at BlackArrow, a dynamic ad insertion company that was acquired by Cross MediaWorks last year. He’s also late of 24/7 Real Media.

“Marketers are shifting toward all things video and data is the key to making video creative resonate with consumers,” Beth-Ann Eason, president at Innovid, in a statement. “John’s deep experience in data-driven TV advertising will enable him to help marketers transition and capitalize on digital video, particularly as OTT adoption accelerates.”

Innovid claims its video marketing platform has grown over 400% year-over-year, and works with brands such as Citi, Kraft, L’Oréal, Microsoft, and Walmart. 

Simulmedia said John Piccone has been named chief strategy officer for the marketing technology company, having previously served as chief revenue officer.

Reporting to CEO Dave Morgan, Piccone will be responsible for communicating and developing Simulmedia's commercial strategy in the U.S. market and expanding Simulmedia’s interests internationally.

Piccone joined Simulmedia as vice president, sales, in 2010 and was promoted to senior vice president, sales, in 2011; he was elevated to chief revenue officer in 2013.

"John has an exceptional ability to communicate what we do at Simulmedia with clarity, and explain why it is important for brands and networks," Morgan said in a release. "As we begin to explore expansion to overseas markets, I have asked John to be our point man to continue our growth. As he has at every job he has held with me at Simulmedia, and before that at Real Media, I know John will excel at this one too."

Piccone joined Simulmedia from Healthination, where he had been senior VP of business development and sales strategy since 2007. Before that, he was VP, sales, at Blackarrow. He spent 10 years with Real Media prior to Blackarrow.

Nielsen and Simulmedia said they have signed a development agreement to research "long-tail" TV network measurement, aimed at the small cable networks that today don't buy measurement services. If they developed a viewer-capturing system those networks would buy, it might help those networks in their advertising sales and open up new markets for the measurement firms.

The two companies have been working together for more than a year on joint research involving the Nielsen People Meter panel and Simulmedia's set-top box viewing data representing 50 million viewers, the companies said. Now they want to create new measurement solution for currently unmeasured cable network TV audiences.

"We are very excited to work with Nielsen again on research that we expect will eventually allow smaller networks to sell advertising using consistent and reliable audience measurement tools," Dave Morgan, Simulmedia's CEO, said in a release. "In our work, we have found valuable blocks of audiences watching programs that may be under the radar of many network TV buyers. This research will surface both the value of these networks and their audiences to brands, and the cost effectiveness of working with them to reach attractive consumers and achieve positive business outcomes."

In October 2013, Simulmedia entered into a license agreement with Nielsen to integrate Nielsen Buyer Insights into the Simulmedia Audience Insights Database to augment TV viewer behavioral insights, the companies said.

"We're committed to delivering solutions that drive business benefits for our clients. Big and small. Global and local. Across and within platforms," Steve Hasker, Nielsen's President of Global Product Leadership, said in the release. "This initiative with Simulmedia signifies an important Nielsen move to seek out innovation to bring meaningful insights to our clients and the industry. We look forward to continued collaboration with Simulmedia."

Simulmedia said it has hired Mark Green, formerly of Nielsen, as senior vice president, product strategy, a new position at the audience-targeted TV advertising firm. 

He will be responsible for organizing innovation and thought leadership initiatives, framing product aspects of business direction, and implementing pilot programs and beta products through the launch and leadership of the company’s Program Management department, Simulmedia said.  

"Mark Green is one of the most experienced media measurement science operations executives anywhere, having spent almost 30 years as a global leader in the field at Nielsen and at some of the world's top media agencies, including Initiative, Mediacom and ZenithOptimedia," Simulmedia CEO Dave Morgan said in a release. "As we assemble the largest database of TV viewing in history -- giving Simulmedia more people to target with more TV ads than anyone else in this business -- there is nobody better than Mark to help Simulmedia build-out operational excellence its ability to measure and maximize results."

Green has spent the last 10 years leading Nielsen’s product development, measurement science, analytics and operations across their Data and Analytic products in 103 countries, most recently as senior vice president, global measurement science operations leader.

Earlier, he led global research, analytics, planning and buying for 17 years at advertising agencies including Initiative MediaCom and ZenithOptimedia Group.