Samsung Unveils Viewer Panel For Advertisers, Says It's Not Getting Into 'Currency' Space

by Joe Mandese , May 2, 2023

At a time when the ad industry is preparing to grapple with an explosion of multiple new panel and/or Big Data-sourced audience-measurement services, Samsung this morning unveiled the rollout of a new 5,000 household opt-in panel of Samsung device owners, but says the research is not intended to be used as "currency," just to help advertisers and agencies navigate the complexities of converging linear TV and streaming audiences.

"As audiences shift to streaming, the challenges for an advertiser get more complicated," Samsung Ads Global Head of Analytics & Insights Justin Evans noted, while unveiling the new panel, dubbed "TK," during its newfront presentation in New York City this morning, adding, "'How do my linear buys overlap with my streaming buys?,' 'What audience am I not reaching, or not reaching enough?,' and most importantly, 'How can I activate to get the best result for my brand?'."

Evans went on to unveil "two significant investments" Samsung is making in data, including an expansion of its own ability to measure the viewership of streaming ads on is own TV Plus free, ad-supported service.

"Secondly, to add to our substantial deterministic data, I'm thrilled to announce the launch of a proprietary panel drawn from opted-in Samsung TV owners that we're calling the 'TV & You Community'," Evans explained, adding that the panel will provide person-level viewing insights across linear, streaming content and ads with "a single source, with co-viewing, with demographics.

"This will allow advertisers to place linear and streaming on the same playing field to understand how their linear and streaming campaigns are duplicating and to take action."

Importantly, Evans went on to disclose that "Insights from these tools will not be used to broker deals between buyer and seller. We are not competing in the currency space.

At this point you could hear the audible sound of the newfront audience chattering.

Evans went on to Samsung Ads has already begun working with IPG Mediabrands and four pilot advertisers -- including a major automotive brand, a wireless provider, a QSR brand and a healthcare brands -- as part of the beta for the new panel, and that it will officially rollout "this quarter" and will expand to reach 5,000 opted-in households by the first quarter of 2024.

ad buys, advertising, analytics, audience measurement, big data, data, media buying, newfronts, research, streaming, television

3 comments about "Samsung Unveils Viewer Panel For Advertisers, Says It's Not Getting Into 'Currency' Space".

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John Grono from GAP Research, May 2, 2023 at 8:22 p.m.
Hmmm .. opt-in. The results produced will represent a sub-set of the market, so I'd be wary to extrapolate findings to the viewing universe.
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Roy Moskowitz from Reciprocal Results, May 3, 2023 at 11:58 a.m.

The Samsung TV streaming apps are buggy, so we use a Roku to stream on our Samsung TV.

Tony Jarvis from Olympic Media Consultancy, May 3, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.

John: You are surely too kind? A sub-set, of a sub-set, of a sub set that will provide little relevance or more importantly data validity to optimizing any major campaign?
As you know too well, there are too many potential holes and limitations in this kind of TV screen based data - presumably ACR based (so only content-rendered-counts on a screen - and NOT persons "watching" or "viewing") and probably without clear and explicite permission to collect the ACR information from the purchaser. The latter would be a serious consumer issue and if that is the case, Media Post or perhaps the NY Times should investigate? How is the panel being compensated and does it albeit inadvertantly produce biases? Perhaps hefty rebate on the $5,000+ 4K 85" TV???? etc. etc. Doubtful?
I believe this move and others like it, focussed on a singular screen occurance or a singular media vehicle/distibutor, represent a "Back to the Future" in media measurement!
You remember the "good old days" when all we had were circulation or set counts media vehicle by media vehicle many of which were not even audited. And when we had no extensive syndicated, total population reperesentative, person-based audience data including either reading/viewing/hearing measures across ALL the titles/vehicles/stations in the specific medium for meaningful cross comparsions and planning for that medium.
So does this kind of announcement reflect "Who are we kidding?"