In an October column on StreamTV Insider, TVREV analyst Alan Wolk zeroed in on Comcast’s EntertainmentOS, which he said seems built as a way for the companies to participate in the global streaming wars, serving as an alternative to other OS already available.

Sources told AdExchanger anonymously that VideoAmp, Comscore and iSpot appear to be the most promising of all the non-Nielsen currencies.

But not every measurement company vying for currency status will make the cut – which is why we’re starting to see consolidation as providers shore up their solutions. Case in point: iSpot’s acquisition of its competitor 605 in September.

Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for December 4-10, with insights from Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of Vizio. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

In digital TV, there are manufacturers, such as Vizio, LG, Samsung, Sony and more. They all have operating systems. There are connected TV device-makers such as Roku, Apple, Google and Amazon. And there are app ecosystems from individual media companies.

The company — which was the biggest beauty manufacturer by sales in 2022, per Beauty Inc’s annual ranking of the top 100 beauty manufacturers — is seeing uncommon, cross-category growth in earned media value across its skin care, hair care and makeup portfolios, reports CreatorIQ.

The 2025-26 upfront also will be the first one in which Nielsen’s legacy panel-only data effectively is no longer an industry currency -- being replaced by its own hybrid panel-plus Big Data product -- and competing with a variety of “alternative currencies,” some of which have been certified by the JIC managed by OpenAP, including Comscore, iSpot.tv and Videoamp.

Spending on television ads for betting sites has also climbed, to $305 million through November of this year, up from $197 million for all of 2021, according to iSpot.TV, which tracks advertising. ISpot data also show betting ads are spreading from live sport broadcasts to reruns of shows like Friends and South Park as the industry seeks new potential gamblers

A few highlights: IBM says, “Let’s create AI that begins with trust—with Watsonx.governance.” Netflix calls itself “everyone’s home for the holidays.” And two raccoons enjoy a romantic stay-at-home date (or so it seems) in a spot from smart TV maker Vizio.

At Wunderkind, we’ve analyzed our 2023 client data to unveil strategies that not only enhance your holiday marketing but also bolster your annual marketing tactics.

As part of her Norway expedition, Whittal also joined female citizen scientists, Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Falun Strom. The two women spent more than 19 months in solitary in a cabin on Svalbard, documenting and collecting scientific data on behalf of NASA, Polar Bears International and other organizations.

Chris Pfaff, CEO, Chris Pfaff Tech Media, Producers Guild of America (PGA), VR AR Association (VRARA), dives into the AI streaming monetization question with Bethany Atchison, VP, Distribution Partner Management, Vevo, Daniel Trotta, Product Manager, Content Engagement & Monetization, Warner Bros. Discovery, Alan Wolk, Co-Founder/Lead Analyst, TVREV, and Paul Erickson, Founder and Principal, Erickson Strategy & Insights in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2023.

Streaming is still an ample opportunity over the coming years, both domestically and in international markets. Roku has expanded outside the U.S. and become the leading TV system in Mexico. Advertisers are still catching up as consumers cut the cord. According to a report by TVREV, ad spending on streaming will surpass broadcast TV by 2025 and could shift to nearly 70% by 2027. That sounds like continued growth ahead for companies like Roku.

Money quote from Geoff York, from Polar Bears International: “As of Nov. 28 this year, the bears in western Hudson Bay had spent 164 days on shore, he said. That’s tied for the fifth-longest amount of time the bears have spent off the ice since 1979.” CBC, 9 December 2023 [my bold]

Amid these controversies, TikTok announced the expansion of its advertising program, Pulse Premiere, into key European markets, reflecting its growth as a major player in digital advertising. Moreover, the platform has partnered with creator marketing platform CreatorIQ to offer strategies for brands to leverage TikTok’s influence. Despite the challenges, TikTok continues to offer job opportunities and a platform for both everyday people and celebrities to build their brands.

Earlier this week, TikTok and CreatorIQ jointly released new research that examines what makes influencer-driven brand content/advertising connect with consumers on the platform. Among the key findings..

New data from Tubular Labs indicate that many streaming platforms and TV networks continue to serve wildly divergent audiences, even when owned by the same parent company. The data is drawn mostly by analyzing and comparing YouTube viewership habits.

VideoAmp has maintained a strong trajectory in the audience measurement space. Alongside iSpot, it was certified as currency for advanced audiences earlier this year by NBCUniversal. The company also inked a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) at the start of the year providing a full suite of measurement data and capabilities across the company’s linear, streaming and digital portfolio.

I am a longtime reader of Reality Blurred (since middle school and I am now in my mid thirties). One of the items on my bucket list has always been to appear on a reality show.

“This report advances Synthetic Aperture Radar as a promising method for polar bear den detection, which is critical for protecting polar bears alongside human activity,” says Geoff York, senior director of research and policy at Polar Bears International.

Researchers from Simon Fraser University (SFU) and Brigham Young University (BYU), collaborating with Polar Bears International, hope that improving detection tools to locate dens—which are nearly invisible and buried under snow—will help efforts to protect mother polar bears and their cubs.