• by Alex Weprin , February 12, 2019

FreeWheel, Comcast’s video advertising business unit, says it will incorporate the Nielsen digital management platform (DMP) within its suite of offerings for over-the-top (OTT), connected TV (CTV) and digital video content.

The deal will allow marketers whop use FreeWheel markets to access advanced data insights and segmentation, and to purchase specific segments as needed. The server-to-server integration means that the delivery of campaign optimizations will happen in real time.

The Nielsen DMP will be available through FreeWheel Markets’ “DRIVE” suite of advertising solutions, which emphasizes data and measurement.

For Freewheel, the deal also marks “an important step toward our end goal of data unification across linear and digital TV," said Neil Smith, GM of FreeWheel Markets, in a statement about the partnership.

Both FreeWheel and Nielsen, as well as other companies like Comscore and The Trade Desk, have been aggressive in trying to establish a true cross-platform measurement and attribution system that will work for digital video and OTT.

The deal between FreeWheel and Nielsen is a step toward an ecosystem that is more fully measured.