Nielsen signals video trading push with eXelate acquisition

James McGrath
By James McGrath | 5 March 2015
 

Nielsen has aquired independent data management platform eXelate, in a deal thought to be worth US$200 million, as a pre-cursor to its push into programmatic TV ad trading.

It announced the move to its shareholders in the US on Wednesday, saying the acquisition would allow it to marry its data, which includes things such as age, location, and gender, with eXelate's intent data.

eXelate aggregates and distributes third-party online data, composed of premium demographic, interest, and intent data from more than 200 online and offline data providers focusing on consumer purchasing intent rather than simply demographics.

It boasts that it offers the industry’s only unified customer profiles, which connect customer identities across all formats – including display, video, audio, offline, mobile and smart TVs – enabling marketers to engage individuals and households with personalised messages at scale.

Nielsen said it wants to further develop and expand eXelate's offering.

"This acquisition creates a tremendous opportunity for Nielsen in the programmatic media ecosystem," global president of Nielsen Steve Hasker said.

"Adding eXelate's solutions to the Nielsen family furthers our ability to help marketers improve the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns and to help media companies better sell their content."

While the acquisition is US-focused, it signals a broader push for Nielsen to get into programmatic trading, possibly even pushing into the trading of TV inventory.

“We think the combination of Nielsen and eXelate will allow us to better serve the programmatic buying and selling space, in and around particularly video, but all forms of media,” Hasker was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying in light of the acquisition.

“While we are starting in digital video, we think it will – if and when the market is ready – go to a broader television ecosystem.”

It is believed that in the short-term Nielsen will get a revenue boost from the acquisition, by far the more interesting play is what happens once Nielsen has on-boarded the data from eXelate.

While Nielsen's data is driven by planning and post-campaign analysis, eXelate's data focusing on purchasing intent in real time, opening up the programmatic trading sphere to Nielsen.

Locally, Nielsen said that it was still working through the implications of the deal and how it could impact on its data offering before going to market locally.

"It provides our clients with the ability to activate the Nielsen audience insights in real-time, as well as eXelate's aggregated consumer segments, to inform the highest-quality programmatic buying decisions in the marketplace," a spokesperson said.

"Any plans for international expansion of this solution will be shared later this year."

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