MarketCast Buys Data Science Firm Deductive

Los Angeles-based consumer insights and analytics business MarketCast Group has acquired Deductive (formerly Dativa), a data science team focused on clients in the media and consumer electronics sectors.

Dativa was founded in Oxford, UK by a team of data scientists and TV data professionals with backgrounds in content recognition and advanced media analytics. Services include helping clients combine first and third-party data sources from connected devices and set-top boxes, and measuring marketing attribution using a nationally representative panel. Three months ago the firm partnered with smart TV viewing data provider Inscape to launch a panel providing representative TV viewing data for all US households, demographics and geographies, built on the latter's base of 15 million ACR-enabled Smart TVs; and just last month it changed its name to Deductive.

MarketCast says the acquisition will allow it to 'put big datasets to work' for its clients, who can now pair primary custom research with advanced analytics to 'crunch a wider range of data', deriving clear insights and actionable recommendations. CEO John Batter (pictured) says the move 'addresses the changing needs of modern media companies and brands that require an ability to process complex data from a variety of sources at speed and scale'.

Michael Collette, co-founder and CEO of Deductive comments: 'With competition heating up among entertainment platforms, studios, broadcasters and streamers are increasingly looking for ways to tap into granular audience datasets to find fans for their content and understand the impact of their advertising. With many shared clients and a common vision for the future of media research and analytics, MarketCast is the ideal home for our amazing team of data scientists and portfolio of services'.

Collette and co-founder Tom Weiss will join MarketCast's team which includes former leaders from Nielsen, Gracenote, IAC, NRG, Dreamworks and Comscore.

Web site: www.marketcast.com .