• by Wayne Friedman , April 10, 2019

Global marketing tech company 4C’s Teletrax network and TV research company iQ Media are forming a new company, Kinetiq, which focuses on combining paid media advertising and monitoring with earned-media measurement.

Although 4C says it was acquiring a stake in iQMedia, specific terms were not disclosed.

iQ Media's monitoring of paid and earned brand mentions covers the U.S. -- all 210 U.S. DMAs -- in real-time and from historical broadcast TV and media content. It also gains data from brand sponsorships and events.

Using fingerprinting and watermarking technology, Teletrax conducts research into brand content in more than 85 countries -- around 2,500 TV stations -- and more than 500,000 indexed ads from over 32,000 brands.

Kevin Kohn, CEO of iQ Media, will become CEO of Kinetiq. He stated brands are growing earned-media efforts and sponsorships in addition to paid advertising: “TV attribution has been limited to paid advertising, overlooking the impact and return on brand exposure within the content — where audiences are most engaged.” Headquarters for the new company will be in Philadelphia and Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Through smart TVs, Kinetiq says it can link TV brand exposures to household-level data and brands’ first-party data — measuring ROI across paid and earned media and sponsorship.

Kinetiq’s roster of clients include Mercedes-Benz, Fox Broadcasting Company, Google, Mitsubishi, Newell Brands, US Bank, AP and Reuters.