The U.S. Joint Industry Committee has conditionally certified Comscore, iSpot.tv and VideoAmp for audience measurement, anointing what industry had already identified as the leading contenders to cut into Nielsen’s dominance in TV and cross-platform measurement.

The move comes a week ahead of a key Media Rating Council vote on accreditation of Nielsen’s big data and panel data integration, expected as soon as Sept. 27, after having initially been set for today, according to people familiar with the matter. Nielsen has declined to participate in the JIC process so far, with company executives citing primarily a demand that all participants be required to have MRC accreditation.

The two evaluation tracks are not mutually exclusive. JIC certification includes a requirement that measurement companies seek MRC accreditation. While the MRC aims to evaluate measurement companies for broad use, a major driver of JIC certification is to evaluate those that want to tap into the aggregated streaming server data of JIC members. One JIC member, John Halley, president of Paramount Advertising, said in June his network would not allow its streaming data to be integrated with a new measurement service that didn’t apply for accreditation.

JIC, MRC and Nielsen maneuvers

Halley earlier this year also accused Nielsen of “weaponizing the MRC.” But timing the JIC announcement so close to the MRC audit review—even though the JIC voted on the conditional certifications Aug. 24—was coincidental, said a spokeswoman for OpenAP, the consortium of TV publishers that manages the JIC. She said the announcement was delayed nearly a month in part to allow time to provide detailed feedback to companies that didn’t get approval.

“We have been collaborating with George Ivie and his team at the MRC on joint positioning on how we bring clarity to the role of certification versus accreditation,” she said. “George has been very supportive, and we mutually believe each has a separate but complementary objective.”

Nielsen remains “open to working with the JIC and continuing dialog that moves industry measurement forward,” a spokesman said. “However, we believe strongly that measurement solutions need to be accredited by the MRC.”

The JIC’s spokeswoman said Nielsen continues to have “an open invitation.” But she said the next certification window for new companies and companies that want to re-apply will start in June, though companies can petition for “an off-cycle certification window” subject to vote by the JIC.

Behind the vote

A statement by OpenAP said the three companies getting conditional certification were “scored to be transactable through the first phase of the JIC’s analysis, with full certification anticipated early next year to those that pass a data evaluation phase.”

Besides Paramount, JIC members include Fox, NBCUniversal, Warner Bos. Discovery, TelevisaUnivision, A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Hallmark Media and Roku in addition to Dentsu, GroupM, Horizon Media, IPG Mediabrands, Publicis Media, Omnicom Media Group and RPA; and industry organizations OpenAP and the VAB.

The JIC statement said the decision was made by a subcommittee with equal representation of buyers and sellers based on a scoring process standardized for all subcommittee members.

New outcomes certification?

In addition to the currency certification, the JIC plans to introduce a new “measurement certification track” next year that will complement the currency certification, according to the JIC’s statement. While the conditional certifications announced cover counting households and people watching programming, the second track of certification is likely to cover outcomes measurement, according to a person familiar with the matter, such as sales lifts linked to ad exposure.

The MRC adopted outcomes standards last June, but to date, no companies have applied for accreditation under them, according to a spokesman for the group. Should the JIC get takers for its certification, that might become the first third-party review of quality among a vast group of outcomes measurement providers.

Companies that got conditional JIC certification were, of course, pleased.

“This is affirmation of our methodology and big data approach, which already serves as currency for hundreds of local and national clients, including multiple JIC members,” according to a statement by Comscore. “As the only provider under consideration by the U.S. JIC who is also currently undergoing MRC accreditation for audience measurement, Comscore looks forward to continuing along in the certification process.”

ISpot does have an application for MRC accreditation process underway for its TV ad occurrence data, but not audience measurement.

“The JIC is doing important work to create standards and processes that should result in greater transparency and choice in the marketplace,” Stu Schwartzapfel, senior VP of media for iSpot, said in a statement. “It’s not a small nor a fast undertaking by any of the parties involved, but the cooperation being demonstrated by the networks serves to underline its importance.”

Three companies that applied for certification did not receive conditional approval. They include 605, which was acquired by iSpot last week, SambaTV and Innovid. A Samba representative did not return a request to comment as of press time. 

Innovid in a statement said the company “is not pursuing a currency strategy nor focused on multi-platform currency as a business.”

The company’s InnovidXP product is used to gauge converged TV performance against business goals, according to the statement.

“We are currently in CEO-level conversations with OpenAP/JIC about a possible non-currency related partnership,” Innovid said in its statement.