Univision is adopting consumer behavior data to help prove TV ads drive business results. 

The Spanish-language media giant struck a deal with Interpublic Group-owned agency Mediahub to tap analytics companies EDO and DatafuelX to use consumer behavior data to predict engagement performance for advertisers' campaigns. Ulta Beauty is among the brands that will use EDO data as its currency in deals with Univision. 

This comes as the ad world seeks new metric to measure the success of TV ad campaigns and network groups work to prove commercials can drive actual consumer actions like visiting a website or, ultimately, leading to a sale. TV groups have been eagerly trying to make this case as they look to remain competitive against more data-driven forms of advertising in digital media. 

EDO measures actionable, individual consumer behaviors, such as an increase in online searches for a product, immediately after a brand’s commercial airs. The larger the spike, the more consumers are engaging with the brand. and the higher engagement is said to be predictive of higher sales, according to the company. Then, EDO, backed by DatafuelX’s predictive analytics technology, can determine the best environment for a brand's commercial, whether that’s airing it during certain dayparts or in a particular programming genre.

Many of Univision’s advertisers “have this desire and need … to be more forward-looking and, basically, performance-oriented with how they were thinking about buying their TV,” said Kevin Krim, EDO’s president and CEO.

“We see people searching within seconds of an airing on live TV. You don’t have to wait six weeks to get your sales data back,” he added.

Univision, Mediahub and EDO are remaining tight-lipped about brands other than Ulta Beauty that have expressed interest in utilizing the outcomes-based measurement, though Krim did confirm that unspecified players in the insurance and wireless industries have been among early adopters.

The data utilized in this partnership represents an amalgam of historical information gathered by both EDO and Nielsen, allowing Univision to strategically deploy—and guarantee “with high statistical confidence,” said Krim—future ads and their performance in a way that’s aimed at proving brand lift and engagement for Mediahub’s clients.

“Historically, television has been a unidirectional consumer product,” said Brian Lin, senior VP of product management for Univision’s advanced advertising sales arm. He likens it to radio—a medium where you could broadcast a message out, but seldom have enough of a return to prove any kind of efficacy.

Univision’s partnership with EDO is not its first venture into new audience measurement currencies as of late, with the Spanish-language media company increasingly looking beyond the traditional scope of Nielsen to consider alternative complementary measurement data sets.

Just last month, the broadcaster announced that it had enlisted Comscore as its exclusive ratings partner for a trio of TV stations it recently acquired from Entravision Communications. Univision had previously partnered with Comscore for many of its digital audience measurement needs.

“We are now, like many other media companies, looking at every option to measure our audiences,” Roberto Ruiz, Univision’s executive VP of research, insights and analytics, told Ad Age in November about the company’s opportunity to “just start fresh” with a new TV currency in those three U.S. markets.