• by Wayne Friedman , 9 hours ago

The U.S. Joint Industry Committee says it has re-certified three media-measurement providers -- Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp -- as “national currencies” for 2026 through 2028.

The media industry group says all three providers have met the criteria for “transactability, across total households, advanced audiences and personified demographics.”

The group did not provide specific details, but noted that the latest certification process was drawn from the results of 39 data-evaluation questions, 672 tests across transaction types and estimation methods, and analysis of 150 million telecast “observations” across more than 680 networks.

Along with this announcement, the group -- which was formed in early 2023 -- published a report called “How a Number is Made,” which provides specific analysis for member companies.

It has not been determined what market share these certified media-measurement companies hold in the overall TV and streaming video market.

Nielsen has a share roughly estimated at around 80% to 90% in transacted volume as a national TV and video currency. That leaves VideoAmp, iSpot, and Comscore with combined 10% to 20% share.

VideoAmp’s primary data sources come from smart TV automated content recognition (ACR), pay TV set-top-box data, and identity graphs from large credit agencies such as Experian and Transunion.

Smart TV ACR data and fingerprinting of advertising commercial content are the main tools of iSpot.

Comscore uses set-top box data from cable and satellite providers, as well as ACR data and census panels.

Current members of the JIC include Paramount Skydance, Fox Corp, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, TelevisaUnivision, AMC Networks, E.W. Scripps, and Hallmark Media.

The group also includes major media agencies Dentsu, WPP, Horizon Media, IPG Mediabrands, Omnicom Media Group and Publicis Media.