CIMM Pitch Invites Smart TV and STB Data Combination

In the US, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) is inviting tenders for a contract to combine smart TV and set top box (STB) data, in order to create a nationally projectable 'mega sample' of TV tuning data.

CIMM is an alliance of television content providers, media agencies and advertisers which aims to promote innovation in audience measurement for television and cross-platform video. In a statement, the organization said its latest RFP has been issued in recognition that smart TV and STB datasets complement each other, so a combination of the two could provide some of the data that each lacks.

The RFP does not specify an approach to the combination, but says it is open to suggestions from research and technology vendors who are licensing both types of data. This includes STB or smart TV providers who want to combine both datasets, or from big data firms. Proposals and budgets should be submitted by September 30th, 2016.

CEO and MD Jane Clarke comments: 'STB data are currently being made available to media measurement vendors from a number of providers, but these data only represent about 40% of tuning in the US and particularly lack coverage of MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors) in major markets such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Additionally, MVPDs are not always making their data available house-hold level data, creating a need to find alternative sources of census-level TV tuning data from Smart TVs. By combining these datasets, we can create, or more accurately model, a nationally representative footprint'.

Interested parties can download the RFP at http://cimm-us.org/initiatives-2/rfps .