Measurement startup looks to fill gaps left by Nielsen and Comscore

A new media metrics firm is looking to help stalwarts like Nielsen and Comscore measure beyond just households, providing viewing data down to an individual level. Led by CEO and co-founder Joanna Drews, who spent time at Comscore and Michael Bologna, former Modi Media and Cadent exec, HyphaMetrics is launching with a $2 million investment from media, research and agency executives. HyphaMetrics’ model looks to provide independent viewing behavior down to the individual level that can be licensed to measurement giants as well as TV networks, streaming platforms and ad agencies. HyphaMetrics isn’t looking to compete with Nielsen or Comscore, but fill in the gaps, says Bologna, who serves as the firm’s president and chief revenue officer. The industry has long looked to addressable advertising—the ability to target down to a household level—as the holy grail. But the focus has shifted to measuring down to the individual level. “We provide the segmentation and single source Nielsen lacks; we fill that gap,” Bologna says, adding the company will try to tap Nielsen, Comscore, Samsung and the like as customers to add HyphaMetric’s data to theirs. He also notes that neither Nielsen or Comscore, or the set-top box makers, license their data; they instead license data reports. HyphaMetrics will put its data directly into customers’ systems. The company is looking to distribute its metered panel—the size of an Apple TV box—in 5,000 households by the second quarter of next year. This would amount to about 15,000 to 20,000 devices within the home. The box is connected to the TV set with an HDMI cable and measures everything watched, including networks, programs, commercials, product placements, streaming apps and gaming, for ever device in the household. Participants are also given a wearable device or key fob that can detect what they are watching on their phones and tablets. HyphaMetrics is currently licensing its MobileMetrics product—which measures time spent in apps, simultaneous app usage and multitasking metrics, among other things, to the software platform MadHive to inform their data science and machine learning. Its ContentMetrics product, which understands in real time who is watching what content and in what format within an entire household, is also currently available. For example, it can show the time spent watching “This Is Us” across live, recorded and streamed via platforms like Hulu and NBC’s Peacock. Gerardo Lopez Zamudio, who has 20 years of experience in the information technology field, serves as co-founder and chief technology officer of HyphaMetrics, and Chuck Shuttles, also formerly of Comscore, is chief panel officer.

Measurement startup looks to fill gaps left by Nielsen and Comscore

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