NBC Universal Taps Catalina as its Trusted Measurement Partner for Incrementality & Real-Time, Multi-Touch Attribution

Measured By the Company We Keep

by Suzanne Schlei, Catalina VP of Measurement Solutions

After a long, rigorous but highly rewarding process, Catalina was honored to be certified as a trusted measurement partner by NBCUniversal Advertising and Partnerships alongside a prestigious slate of innovative companies.

Strongly believing in the industry needing to shift to a more collaborative multi-currency future, NBCU identified the critical industry need to shift from a panel-based approach to “big data,” setting standardized measurement requirements while encouraging innovation and bringing more choices to the market.

The subsequent year-long certification process was designed to ensure that NBCU partners "deliver best-in-class measurement with demonstrated focus on accuracy, reliability, transparency and more." With more than 150 companies responding to NBCU’s initial RFP, their team had a daunting volume of work to learn about each respondent’s capabilities and approach.

Imagine our excitement to earn the “Trusted Partner” certification in not just one category, but two: Incrementality and Multi-Touch Attribution. This achievement is especially gratifying considering Catalina’s own transformation into a data services leader over the past five years. While we’ve been a trusted brand partner to CPGs and Retailers going back 40 years, our core understanding of “the why behind the buy” has led us to build some of the most innovative measurement products in the industry – connecting media exposures across multiple channels to deliver a de-duplicated view of buying behavior in real time.

In today's media landscape, real-time attribution measurement and insights are crucial for advertisers to understand the impact of their investment and whether they’re hitting their brand’s objectives. This is where Catalina shines. Thanks to our Hub360 portal and robust Shopper ID Graph, we can provide real-time measurement and insights to publishers, helping them connect with shoppers across multiple channels, while providing a new level of power to CPG advertisers.

Net, our certification with NBCU recognizes and fuels our commitment to innovation in data-driven advertising. And we aren’t stopping here. We will continue to partner and collaborate with thought leaders to deliver industry-leading measurement in a way that maximizes data interoperability while always protecting consumers’ privacy.

The Power of Partnerships in Accelerating Innovation
Like NBCU, Catalina keenly embraces and leverages the power of strategic partnerships to drive innovation. In fact, we’re now playing this team sport exceptionally well, with a partner ecosystem that includes Blockgraph, VideoAmp, Data+Math, 605, and several more. These collaborations are pivotal in our quest to lead the way in delivering cross-channel activation and powering measurement solutions to CPG advertisers.

As my colleague Brian Dunphy, Catalina's SVP of Strategic Partnerships, would tell you, "Catalina is proud to be at the forefront of providing CPG advertisers with the insights they need to connect with shoppers across TV, digital, out-of-home advertising, and in-store. Our partner ecosystem provides brands and agencies with the best-of-breed solution providers that best meet their requirements for advertising effectiveness."

As an NBCU certified measurement partner, Catalina establishes data interoperability with NBCU via a data clean room, ensuring data is shared between two companies in a secure, privacy-compliant way, while further improving the accuracy and depth of the insights provided by Catalina’s attribution solution.

As TV advertising continues to innovate rapidly, our partnerships with NBCU and other industry innovators position us well to help brands, agencies, and Retail Media Networks leverage the power of data-driven advertising to achieve their sales objectives and measure the impact of their media dollars. Consider Cadent, for example. Our close partnership has already scored a major success in the ad industry, winning the 2022 AdExchanger Award for "Best Data-Driven TV Campaign" for our collective work with Applegate.

“We congratulate Catalina on being selected as a trusted measurement partner for NBCU. The successful campaign performance Cadent and Catalina have achieved, including our award-winning work with Applegate, demonstrates the true potential of data-driven TV advertising. Catalina's expertise and direct integration with Aperture Viewer Graph allow for seamless data onboarding, activation, and measurement,” shared Mari Tangredi, SVP, Audience Solutions at Cadent. “We are proud of our partnership with Catalina and look forward to continuing our work with them and NBCU to deliver best-in-class measurement solutions to the market.”

If an organization can be measured by the company it keeps, the NBCU certification is further proof of our success and commitment to help deliver data-driven advertising that measurably builds brands, fosters innovation and further transforms the industry. And we’re proud to be doing so alongside some of the most impressive companies in the business.