Warner Bros. Discovery announces Comscore & VideoAmp as currency providers

Warner Bros. Discovery today announced that the company will partner with Comscore and VideoAmp to enable alternative currencies for national advertisers transacting across its linear inventory and data-driven advanced advertising solutions in the 2023-2024 Upfront. The partnerships will provide marketers with the critical optionality to ensure the impact of their investment is fully captured. Warner Bros. Discovery will also utilize partnerships with Comscore and VideoAmp to enhance cross-platform measurement and enable new capabilities for clients to transact against advanced audience targets.

“Optionality has always been a key part of our approach to measurement and currency, and we are excited to operationalize against multiple currencies at scale and unlock more value for our partners this Upfront season,” said Andrea Zapata, EVP, Head of Ad Sales Research, Measurement and Insights at Warner Bros. Discovery. “We have full confidence in Comscore and VideoAmp to help us execute our vision around currency, and we’re excited to leverage these innovative and effective solutions as we as an industry move away from a single-source currency.”

Warner Bros. Discovery is committed to developing a more expansive portfolio of measurement and currency solutions that further demonstrate the value and outcomes of its award-winning storytelling, offering advertisers the confidence and trust needed to thrive in today’s fragmented landscape. With a diverse and more precise currency and measurement framework, advertisers can better leverage Warner Bros. Discovery’s suite of premium IP, brands, franchises and coveted audience access.

“Comscore is proud to expand our long-standing partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery as they continue to innovate across linear and cross-platform audience measurement solutions for their advertising clients,” said Jon Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer at Comscore. “We are excited to be working together to power marketplace demand for greater transparency, consistency and interoperability. Today’s consumer has more choice than ever before when making their buying and viewing decisions, and we applaud Warner Bros. Discovery for leading the charge to bring choice in media measurement to their brand and agency partners.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery as a currency provider, especially as they head into the Upfront season,” said Michael Parkes, President of VideoAmp. “The industry is in need of better audience measurement and transactional capabilities. By teaming up with such an iconic company with massive reach and engaged audiences, we’re committed to providing advertisers with greater visibility into the true value of both the breadth and depth of the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio. We look forward to collaborating with them to drive meaningful impact and deliver measurable results.”

These newly expanded currency options will also be available with Warner Bros. Discovery’s best-in-class advanced data-driven linear solution. The high-fidelity viewership data sets will allow Warner Bros. Discovery to yield greater efficacy and greater impact for advertisers engaging in audience-based buying.

Rigorous Testing-and-Learning

Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery developed a first-of-its kind test-and-learn for evaluating third-party measurement providers. The assessment thoroughly reviewed potential partners across five key areas: methodology, reporting, activation, stewardship and campaign findings.

This process revealed several key learnings that the broader industry can apply to move measurement forward and successfully adopt alternative currencies at scale. These insights include:

1. Standardization – The need to align on basic definitions and building blocks that are consistent across currency measurement partners.
2. Personification – The need to know who is in front of the TV set exposed to an ad, not simply who lives in the household.
3. Identity Resolution – The need to have multiple identity partners to increase the coverage and more accurately link devices and touchpoints to a single profile or household, which is necessary to get a true cross-platform understanding of campaign delivery and a key component to persons-identification.
4. Transaction Capability – The need for partners to integrate with systems and workflows that enable transaction on the buy and sell side for both linear and digital.

As Warner Bros. Discovery implements an audience-based measurement approach to inform media planning and buying, the company will continue to test-and-learn with Comscore, VideoAmp and a variety of partners to ensure continued innovation for advertisers.  BCS Bureau