LAS VEGAS — Buyers can now verify connected TV purchases at the show level, seeing specific line items, CPMs, impressions, and total media spend rather than trusting that budgets allocated toward major television events actually reached intended inventory.
“Before a couple of days ago, it was impossible for a buyer to know exactly what they were buying in CTV in particular,” James Wilhite, vp of product at Index Exchange, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at CES. “Even if you wanted to buy live sports, there was no way to actually prove that you bought it. With this Gracenote integration that we have with Index Exchange, a buyer can now — for the first time ever — get proof of purchase.”
The solution addresses long-standing transparency demands through technical rather than cultural changes.
Compliance enables transparency
Video Privacy Protection Act requirements previously prevented show-level transparency, but Gracenote IDs now obfuscate that data while Index Exchange aggregates information without personally identifying details.
“What’s prevented transparency in the past in CTV is VPPA,” Wilhite said. “We’ve gotten to a point where a Gracenote ID can obfuscate the show level data. And then at Index Exchange, what we actually do is we aggregate everything together without any personally identifying information. So all that’s really shown in the reporting is that show level data.”
Charter Spectrum early adoption
Charter Spectrum partnered as an early adopter in the press release announced at CES, signaling MVPDs, virtual MVPDs, device manufacturers, and programmers’ commitment to advertising transparency.
“They want to prove that they have the high quality inventory so that buyers can know that they’re going to trust that those dollars are well spent and that dollars can shift from linear television over into digital,” Wilhite said.
Measurement impact creates flywheel
Show-level data primarily impacts measurement by enabling buyers to verify dollar allocation across line items similar to viewability or other key performance indicators that demonstrate effective spending and increased working media.
“To be able to look at where your dollars went and see each line item, it’s synonymous to seeing viewability or any other KPIs that you might care about as a buyer to prove that your dollars are well spent,” Wilhite said. “When you have transparency into what you’re buying and then you can turn that into future buys with targeting, it creates a flywheel effect for you. So you’re able to spend your budget effectively.”
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