Dentsu becomes first media agency network to partner with Comscore to advance beyond age/gender-based currencies in local TV

Comscore, Inc. announced a partnership with dentsu enabling the agency network to shift local TV buying to a Comscore-based currency, which supports transactions on advanced audiences in all 210 local markets.

As a driver of what’s next in media, dentsu will be the first agency network to place buys in local markets using advanced audiences across its three US media agencies, Carat, dentsu X, and iProspect, adding a new addressable solution to the agency network’s toolkit. The move signals a significant shift for the local media industry as it seeks to utilize the same data-driven techniques that have been long employed by national buyers.

“As we look to what’s next in media, the scale and stability of Comscore’s local TV dataset, coupled with the power of dentsu’s M1 audience intelligence platform, enable new opportunities for us to precisely transact on the audiences that matter most to our clients and drive value in every market.”

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Comscore and dentsu will conduct test buys on behalf of two clients in top 10 local markets based on impressions delivered to advanced audiences built in dentsu’s proprietary audience-building platform M1, with buys planned to go live in early 2023. The partnership will expand to additional markets throughout next year. All major broadcast stations in the markets and local cable inventory will also participate in these buys.

“At dentsu we pride ourselves on knowing people better than anyone else and have been at the forefront of unlocking new ways to create addressable, audience-first solutions across media environments. For too long, our local TV buyers have been unable to reap the benefits of advances in data driven buying,” said Jennifer Hungerbuhler, EVP, Local & Audio Investment, dentsu Media US. “As we look to what’s next in media, the scale and stability of Comscore’s local TV dataset, coupled with the power of dentsu’s M1 audience intelligence platform, enable new opportunities for us to precisely transact on the audiences that matter most to our clients and drive value in every market.”

This partnership follows a previous statement in which the companies announced that they were expanding their long standing partnership and adding the ability to utilize dentsu’s M1 advanced audiences within Comscore’s local planning and buying datasets. It also represents the culmination of a two year proof of concept phase led by Comscore’s agency and brand leadership team helmed by Kathryn Roganti, Senior Vice President Commercial at Comscore, and Karine McMaster, VP, Advanced Media, Local Investment at dentsu Media US.

“Comscore has a long history of innovating the way media is bought and sold, and we are proud to partner with dentsu as they break new ground in the local media industry,” said Carol Hinnant, Chief Revenue Officer, Comscore. “This test will demonstrate that advancements in how local media is transacted are not only possible but necessary.”

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