• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 20, 2023

Allen Media Group (AMG) has announced that it is becoming the first TV publisher to make VideoAmp its primary and preferred currency across all of its properties, with a 10-year agreement that is effective immediately.

AMG founder, chairman and CEO Byron Allen had already announced, during the company’s upfront event in April, that it would use VideoAmp as a currency for The Weather Channel.

VideoAmp — which has 39 million households and multiple data sources — is one of several measurement companies using big-data from smart TVs and set-top boxes to take on Nielsen, but media companies using these competitors generally position them as "alternate" currencies.

The AMG/VideoAmp agreement, which was announced during a VideoAmp summit held during the Cannes Lions festival, is also unusual for its extended length. 

Allen, whose properties include numerous streaming and online outlets and broadcast stations, as well as cable networks including The Weather Channel, sued Nielsen in March 2022, claiming “intentional misrepresentation and fraud by concealment.” Allen alleges that the measurement company cost AMG billions of dollars because its panel system for estimating viewership is unreliable for some of its networks, and it failed to disclose this.

Nielsen — which lost its Media Ratings Council (MRC) accreditation for its national TV ratings in September 2021, but was reinstated this April — has said that AMG’s lawsuit has “no substance.”

VideoAmp — which has 39 million households and multiple data sources — is one of several measurement companies using big-data from smart TVs and set-top boxes to take on Nielsen, but such currencies are generally positioned by media companies as "alternate" currencies.

The length of the AMG agreement, as well as the use of VideoAmp as a primary currency, is unusual.

“Reliable big data measurement is much needed and will save the industry,“ Allen stated in the announcement of the VideoAmp deal. “This is something we have been waiting on for a long time — a company to come along and break the mold, to take us to the next level and to measure our channels properly.”