Advocado Buys Kantar Ad Verification Arm BVS

US cross-screen advertising data platform Advocado has acquired Kantar's ad verification solution BVS. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

With the integration of BVS (Broadcast Verification Services), Advocado says it can now offer a completely integrated ad verification, attribution and campaign coordination platform, allowing advertisers, media organizations and publishers to track and measure the impact of their ads. Through the deal, Advocado can verify the quality of broadcast ad detection data directly to the source in real-time.

In addition, the acquisition will enable Advocado to expand its broadcast TV and radio monitoring services, and integrate CTV/OTT and audio ad verification into its offer. As part of the deal, Advocado and Kantar will work together to develop new offerings based on their combined data and analytical capabilities, and Advocado will be taking on Kantar's BVS employees.

The takeover follows Advocado's recent acquisition of a portfolio of 47 patents, including watermarking technology from VEIL, which Kantar licenses to power the BVS business. Rich Radzik (pictured), VP of BVS, who will be joining the Advocado team as part of the acquisition, comments: 'Through this partnership, we will continue to grow the most accurate and reliable solution that our clients have depended on for the last 33 years. With Advocado's digital and technical expertise we will be able to launch new innovations that will further drive growth for our client partners.'

Web sites: www.myadvocado.com and www.kantarmedia.com .