'JIC' Re-Certifies Three Ad Currency Firms

In the US, the measurement approaches of Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp have been approved by the collaborative forum of media buyers and video suppliers known as the Joint Industry Committee (JIC) for a further two years, certifying their use as transactional ad currencies.

The organisation has also published a report, 'How a Number Is Made', providing transparency into how each provider measures, analyses and reports viewing.

Formed in January 2023, the 'JIC' describes its aim as 'defining a more transparent and sustainable model for long-form video measurement.' The organisation, whose membership is set out in the bullet points below, published a joint statement with the much longer-established MRC (Media Rating Council) in 2024, clarifying the differences between them, and stressing in particular that the JIC provides more rapid assessments whereas the MRC's process is 'far more rigorous'.

Nevertheless the JIC said the process the three companies passed through for the 2026-2028 currency evaluation was its 'most comprehensive to date,' with all three meeting its baseline threshold for transactability across Total Households, Advanced Audiences and Personified Demographics. The evaluation, which included 39 Data Evaluation Questions and 672 tests across transaction types and estimation methods, assessed data completeness, methodology, stability and transparency, and in response to experience and feedback from previous waves, included expanded testing of stability, sports and long-tail programming to assess the methods' consistently across program types and over time.

'The JIC has spent the past several years bringing buyers and sellers together to evaluate the transactional readiness of new currencies,' says its Vice President Brittany Slattery (pictured), who is also Chief Marketing Offices of OpenAP. 'As the market has matured, the JIC's work is evolving with it, providing greater transparency into methodology and stability so the industry has the clarity and confidence to embrace choice and continue innovating.'

Web site: www.usjointindustrycommittee.com .


Thanks to mediapost.com for the following context data / summary, which we found informative...

• one 2025 estimate from The Current - a publication of The Trade Desk - says that Nielsen has a share roughly estimated at around 80% to 90% in transacted volume as a national TV and video currency - leaving VideoAmp, iSpot, and Comscore with combined 10% to 20% share.
• VideoAmp's primary data sources come from smart TV automated content recognition (ACR), pay TV set-top-box data, and identity graphs from large credit agencies such as Experian and Transunion. iSpot mainly uses Smart TV ACR data and fingerprinting of advertising commercial content; and Comscore uses set-top box data from cable and satellite providers, as well as ACR data and census panels.
• Current members of the JIC include Paramount Skydance, Fox Corp, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, TelevisaUnivision, AMC Networks, E.W. Scripps, and Hallmark Media. The group also includes major media agencies Dentsu, WPP, Horizon Media, IPG Mediabrands, Omnicom Media Group and Publicis Media.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.