• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 7, 2020

Univision Communications has joined Nielsen's beta program for its addressable TV platform.

Nielsen began testing its addressable platform last year, and announced the participation of seven broadcast companies in January: A+E Networks, AMC Networks, CBS, Discovery, Fox, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia.

The solution aims to enable networks to unlock national addressable inventory impressions at scale and independently control and operate addressable campaigns across their premium video inventories. Networks will be able to review advertising inventory and campaign management decisions, audience targeting, dynamic ad replacement and C3/C7, among other capabilities.

The beta test will run through the first half of 2020 in preparation for its commercial debut later in the year. Nielsen previously said that the platform would be ready for the upfront buying season that starts in June. Upfronts, of course, have been converted to virtual formats due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“With the upfronts taking a new form, targeting and advanced TV tools are even more important to make informed sales strategy decisions," said Kelly Abcarian, general manager, Nielsen Advanced Video Advertising. “Having Univision join our beta program will give us increased visibility and insights into the addressable opportunities that exist among broadcast TV, especially for the Hispanic market." 

Univision is joining the addressable initiative as part of its push to bring advanced targeting capabilities to Spanish-language media, according to Steve Mandala, the company's president of advertising sales and marketing.

"Our goal is to continue to bring best-in-class audience targeting solutions to advertisers for their Advanced TV needs and work with industry-leading companies to do so," Mandala said.