Data and measurement firm Samba TV is offloading its media sales business to UK firm MiQ in order to clarify its strategic focus at a time when Nielsen’s struggles have opened the door to new competitors.
The companies have reached a multi-year commercial partnership, which will see them continue to work together, but MiQ will directly run the sales operations that used to be part of Samba. No employees will be laid off as a result of the transaction, and both companies are expecting to continue to grow their respective workforces at a double-digit clip this year as money continues to flow into streaming advertising.
Estimates vary as to the exact amount of streaming ad spending, but it’s a growing chunk of the video total, and new vehicles like Disney and Netflix’s ad-supported tiers have arrived to try to harvest some of the billions. Instead of continuing to have a direct stake in managed media sales, Samba sees this as a propitious moment to zero in on measurement. While Nielsen still dominates the space, the century-old firm continues to be under harsh scrutiny from ad buyers and sellers amid questions about its methodology. A number of top media firms earlier this week announced a partnership with the VAB and industry consortium OpenAP designed to bring a range of measurement and data alternatives to the market by the 2024 upfronts.
Samba, along with companies like iSpot and VideoAmp, is looking to take share from Nielsen, especially given the mounting need for clarity about viewership of programming and advertising in the streaming era. Traditional metrics from the linear era, while never supremely reliable, at least functioned as a universal standard for the industry. In the streaming era, there is much less universally accepted data in circulation.
The multi-year agreement between the companies will bolster MiQ’s existing connected TV data footprint with Samba TV’s ability to track 28 million U.S. devices, giving MiQ total reach to more than 60 million devices nationwide. The partnership will also see Samba TV’s managed media services capabilities added to MiQ’s Advanced TV offering.
“We are excited to be entering into a long-term strategic partnership with MiQ, one of the
leading media partners to brands and agencies globally,” said Samba TV co-founder and CEO
Ashwin Navin. “Today’s announcement reinforces our strategic focus on the next generation of
currency-grade measurement and media optimization for our partners across every screen,
platform, and channel. Marketers and media vendors who leverage our TV data and
measurement portfolio see us as their trusted source of truth for media performance without
bias for our own media.”
With more than $20 billion in connected TV ad spending this year, “marketers need persistent access
to TV data in order to realize the benefits of holistic TV investment,” said MiQ co-founder and
Global Executive Chairman Gurman Hundal. “Samba TV has long been a major player in the TV
data space, and we are thrilled to partner with them to offer our clients scaled and diversified TV
data that drives leading Advanced TV activations and analytics solutions. By combining our
programmatic media expertise with their media services business, we will give our clients
unmatched Advanced TV data access and bridge TV investment into full omnichannel treatment
in ways they never could before.”
