iSpot.TV Acquires Ace Metrix

iSpot.tv has acquired Ace Metrix, a pioneer in attitudinal measurement for TV and video creatives. The deal delivers the marketplace a single-source solution for tracking the business outcomes and brand impact of TV and video advertising. The combined capabilities of iSpot and Ace Metrix provide brands a unified, granular understanding of audience reach, consumer attention, brand impact and return on TV and CTV advertising investments.

The two companies have each built successful brand-direct businesses on their reputations as fast, accurate and actionable measurement platforms that use real-time ad detection at scale to gather the insights brands need to succeed in the fast-evolving TV industry.

Through the acquisition of Ace, iSpot says it now has annual contracts with 500-plus brands —including more than 50% of the Ad Age 100 and 96% of America’s TV networks — furthering its position as the always-on measurement platform of record for both programmers and advertisers.

iSpot, which is known for its ability to measure the reach, conversion rates and lift across TV and streaming TV for every second of advertising, will integrate Ace’s infrastructure and technologies of creative assessment to inform the planning, buying and brand impact of TV advertising.

Ace Metrix, which gathers consumer sentiments before and immediately after an ad first airs, brings to iSpot a sophisticated measurement system for determining what resonates about ad creative and why. Ace’s measurements include brand recall, purchase intent, likeability, and groundbreaking NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) emotion measurement.

“We know that brands invest in TV and video advertising to drive sales and lasting brand equity with audiences, often in the same campaign and creatives,” says Sean Muller, CEO and founder of iSpot.tv. “This acquisition represents an industry-first solution for measuring both business outcomes and brand impact together and in real time. We are excited to bring Ace into the iSpot family because our joint technologies and expertise empower brands to make better, faster and more confident decisions.”

iSpot said it will immediately work to integrate Ace Metrix technology and operations into its own. Ace CEO Peter Daboll will be joining the iSpot executive team as chief strategy officer. The company joins iSpot as a profitable enterprise SaaS business. “The integration of Ace into the iSpot ecosystem creates an ad measurement machine unlike anything out there today,” says Daboll. “We share so much DNA — from being the first real-time companies to disrupt TV advertising, to our always-on approach to measurement at scale, to our deep, long-lasting brand partnerships. This deal creates a one-of-a-kind opportunity for cohesive ad measurement at all stages of the advertising life cycle.”

iSpot will retain the Ace Metrix headquarters in Los Angeles, adding to iSpot’s significant presence in the Seattle area (Bellevue) and New York City, as well as other cities across the U.S. where iSpot maintains satellite offices. Ace’s 45 employees will join iSpot, bringing the total organization to 240 people.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed but, at the time of purchase Ace Metrix has a loyal roster of 100 large advertiser brands.