The big picture: The pandemic-driven shift to streaming forced TV companies to find new measurement alternatives faster than expected.

Why it matters: The startup operates within the growing sector of connected TV advertising, which is expected to grow 9.5% on a compound annual basis to $45.8 billion in 2028, according to ad agency GroupM.

The big picture: Beehiiv launched at a time when some Big Tech firms were building their own newsletter platforms. Many of those efforts from Meta and X (then Twitter) have since been sunsetted. It also competes with other newsletter-focused platforms like Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor and Sailthru along with startups like Substack, Ghost and Lede.

Three Nielsen rivals — Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp — have received conditional currency certification from the coalition of top TV ad buyers and sellers known as the U.S. Joint Industry Committee (JIC).

Three Nielsen rivals — Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp — have received conditional currency certification from the coalition of top TV ad buyers and sellers known as the U.S. Joint Industry Committee (JIC).

Details: During the summit, JIC members presented a scoring rubric for measurement companies' request for information submissions to judge if their currencies are ready for transacting ad deals.

Why it matters: The investment signals momentum for an industry reeling from a market slowdown, and is one of the largest ad tech deals since January 2022, according to data from Luma Partners.

Looking ahead: There have been 16 sweeps in conference finals history, but never two in the same postseason. If Denver wins tonight and Miami wins tomorrow, we'll have a whopping eight days off before the NBA Finals (June 1).

Why it matters: Measurement companies like VideoAmp and iSpot have raised hundreds of millions of dollars each and secured deals with TV networks all without a formal audit and approval by the industry's watchdog.

Details: Among the specific standards being pushed are being fully compliant with privacy regulations, seeking accreditation with the Media Rating Council and disclosing big changes in methodology a year before impact.

Measurement companies Comscore, iSpot, Nielsen, Samba TV, TVSquared, VideoAmp and 605 were told the requirements last week and invited to participate in the certification program.

Measurement companies Comscore, iSpot, Nielsen, Samba TV, TVSquared, VideoAmp and 605 were told the requirements last week and invited to participate in the certification program.

Chartbeat, a digital publishing software company, has acquired Tubular Labs, a social video analytics company, and Lineup Systems, a digital revenue management company.

Why it matters: The deals, which mark Chartbeat's first two acquisitions since being purchased by Cuadrilla Capital last year, expand Chartbeat's capabilities to serve media companies beyond their editorial needs.

Nielsen has been under intense pressure to modernize its media-measurement capabilities in the streaming era.
The firm faced more scrutiny after the Media Rating Council, which serves as the industry's de facto watchdog, suspended Nielsen's accreditation status.
That pressure has made way for rival companies such as iSpot and VideoAmp to gain more attention.

Why it matters: The TV industry has been seeking out alternatives to Nielsen. Newer measurement companies like iSpot and VideoAmp have raised significant capital but still have to overcome advertisers' reliance on traditional methods and establishing trust in the community.

NBCUniversal announced iSpot as a currency in March. It recently created The Currency Council, where top brands such as Marriott Bonvoy, PepsiCo and State Farm will transact on new currencies.

Details: NBCU tapped iSpot as an alternative measurement partner earlier this year.

As we covered earlier this week, iSpot led a funding round in TVision and is working more closely with the panel-based TV measurement company.

The big picture: Nielsen has been on a rocky path as it struggled to adapt to the collapse of linear TV viewing and rise of streaming. The Media Rating Council suspended Nielsen's ratings accreditation last year following an audit, creating yet another chance for rivals to swoop in.

Earlier this year, some of Nielsen's biggest customers openly told advertisers to use rival options from comScore, iSpot and VideoAmp

"Nielsen will continue to innovate and adapt their legacy panel to include big data in order to accurately reflect the diversity in the digital and streaming video landscape," Cohen says. "With that said, there are many qualified competitors that have arrived on the scene to compete with them including VideoAmp, Comscore, iSpot and EDO."

To date, the biggest streaming platforms by share of political ad spend are Comcast's XFINITY Streaming (15%), Vizio's WatchFree+ (15%), Spectrum Streaming (14%) and DirecTV Streaming (13%).

Driving the news: Comcast has approached Irvine, Calif.-based Vizio as the company eyes acquiring a TV maker, Protocol reports. It's also looked at TP Vision. State of play: Comcast is in the smart TV business already, through its Sky subsidiary and a partnership with Hisense. But it apparently wants more.