Nielsen’s Gracenote debuts program-level ad targeting for streaming TV

Nielsen’s Gracenote launched Gracenote Content material Join on December 4, 2025, introducing a platform that permits businesses, manufacturers, supply-side platforms, and demand-side platforms to execute program-level promoting focusing on throughout related tv environments. The announcement marks a big infrastructure improvement for an business the place contextual targeting at the program level received only 9.2% prioritization from media executives regardless of widespread effectiveness challenges.

The brand new platform gives direct entry to Gracenote’s standardized program-level metadata, facilitating exact advert focusing on, marketing campaign efficiency optimization, and clear post-campaign reporting throughout streaming tv stock. Media consumers can entry the platform immediately for hands-on creation of personal market and programmatic assured offers, or leverage associate SSPs and DSPs to create, handle, and activate offers by means of present workflows.

Gracenote Content material Join faucets into the corporate’s proprietary content material ID graph, which includes standardized program metadata organized in structured taxonomy and related by distinctive identifiers often known as TMS IDs. This standardization addresses a important problem in fragmented streaming environments the place reveals seem throughout a number of ad-supported CTV platforms and companies. The system ensures each advert consumers and sellers use widespread language when discussing programming, eliminating confusion that has traditionally difficult programmatic transactions.

“Gracenote knowledge is well known because the media business’s gold-standard for powering shopper leisure search and discovery broadly,” stated Kanishk Prasad, VP of Product at Gracenote. “By opening up entry to content-based indicators which allow smarter CTV advert focusing on and higher marketing campaign efficiency, we’re taking a giant step in the direction of giving advertisers transparency, management and most scale throughout all CTV platforms.”

The platform gives visibility into key content material indicators together with style, score, and temper, enabling customers to bid on CTV stock and goal messages on the program stage. This granular management addresses model security considerations whereas making certain privacy-compliant placements that also ship the size crucial to satisfy marketing campaign goals. Advertisers can execute focusing on methods with out counting on particular person viewer identification, an method gaining urgency as privateness laws prohibit conventional audience-based focusing on strategies.

The announcement builds upon Gracenote’s established place powering leisure search and discovery capabilities that assist platforms drive consumer engagement with customized programming. The corporate’s content material metadata and TMS IDs have develop into deeply embedded within the media ecosystem and are relied upon by main publishers for basic content material group and discovery capabilities.

Latest research from Gracenote revealed strategic misalignment between marketing campaign goals and execution ways throughout the CTV promoting sector. The survey of 600 U.S. model and company executives carried out between July 10-20, 2025, discovered that whereas media professionals prioritize model consciousness as their high CTV goal, most proceed counting on slender audience-based focusing on strategies higher fitted to efficiency advertising and marketing. Demographic focusing on topped the checklist at 29.5% significance, whereas contextual focusing on on the program stage acquired minimal prioritization regardless of addressing a number of challenges respondents recognized.

The effectiveness hole seems substantial. The survey discovered 32% of respondents take into account their CTV promoting “not very efficient,” with solely 27.8% score it “extraordinarily efficient.” These metrics recommend important room for enchancment in marketing campaign execution methods, significantly as CTV’s share of media budgets doubles from 14% in 2023 to twenty-eight% in 2025.

Trade professionals have recognized CTV’s distinctive measurement and focusing on challenges. Vlad Chubakov, Associate Director of Programmatic at Delve Deeper, outlined in a November 4, 2025 LinkedIn put up how advertisers steadily mishandle related tv campaigns by making use of show and video net methods to basically totally different streaming environments. His evaluation emphasised that working open-market campaigns with out stock curation sometimes serves commercials on FAST channels with large provide volumes however restricted high quality management.

Chubakov beneficial advertisers whitelist desired stock at minimal, or ideally execute Non-public Market offers or Programmatic Assured preparations immediately with stock suppliers. This suggestion aligns exactly with Gracenote Content material Join’s versatile workflow choices, which allow each direct platform entry for hands-on deal creation and partner-mediated execution by means of present SSP and DSP relationships.

The launch follows several major contextual targeting initiatives throughout the streaming promoting ecosystem. IPG Mediabrands and Acxiom unveiled Acxiom Contextual CTV powered by IRIS_ID on August 19, 2025, marking the primary time a world holding firm deployed a contextual resolution constructed particularly for Linked TV promoting. That resolution contains a detailed taxonomy of over 1,200 content material classes, enabling real-time contextual focusing on throughout the streaming ecosystem with higher precision and scale.

Magnite partnered with Anoki on June 5, 2025, to develop into the primary supply-side platform providing scene-level contextual focusing on capabilities by means of multimodal synthetic intelligence evaluation. The ContextIQ platform examines scene composition, emotional sentiment, and model security parameters inside CTV environments, producing metadata that describes contextual traits of particular person scenes reasonably than simply program-level categorization.

Nielsen’s broader measurement modernization efforts assist Gracenote’s new platform. The measurement supplier transitioned away from panel-only television ratings in January 2025, implementing Massive Information + Panel measurement that mixes conventional panel knowledge with info from thousands and thousands of related gadgets. Index Exchange became the first SSP to combine Gracenote contextual intelligence on September 16, 2025, embedding model security segments and granular Do-Not-Air controls immediately into its platform.

The streaming ecosystem’s complexity creates mounting challenges for advertisers managing attain, frequency, and measurement throughout platforms. With CTV representing 41% of complete viewing time and greater than 85% of U.S. households streaming, advertisers face fragmentation that makes constant marketing campaign planning and measurement tough. Analysis signifies streaming utilization has elevated 71% since Could 2021, when Nielsen’s The Gauge first launched, with six extra streaming companies now exceeding a full share level of TV utilization.

Retail media networks and CTV platforms are converging by means of data-driven focusing on capabilities. In keeping with IAB Europe evaluation printed November 6, 2025, retail media promoting spend on related tv is projected to develop 3 times quicker than retail media search, signaling substantial shifts towards video-based commerce promoting. This acceleration displays advertiser demand for combining retail knowledge precision with tv’s attain capabilities.

The technical infrastructure supporting contextual CTV promoting continues increasing quickly. Seven major video ad servers together with Google Advert Supervisor, FreeWheel, Publica, SpringServe, Adtelligent, Aniview, and Mission Limelight have positioned themselves throughout the Linked TV promoting panorama with specialised capabilities focusing on totally different writer segments. Gracenote Content material Join matches into this ecosystem by offering the standardized content material knowledge layer that permits these platforms to execute extra refined focusing on methods.

Privateness issues drive substantial parts of contextual focusing on adoption. Analysis reveals 54% of cellular impressions now lack identifier protection, forcing entrepreneurs to undertake new methods. Contextual focusing on emerges as the first resolution for 41% of entrepreneurs, barely outpacing first-party knowledge methods at 40%. Content material-based focusing on options get rid of reliance on particular person consumer monitoring mechanisms whereas sustaining focusing on precision by means of program-level metadata.

Microsoft quietly launched Premium Streaming campaigns on August 4, 2025, enabling advertisers to put broadcast-quality video commercials throughout premium streaming companies together with Netflix, Roku, Paramount, LG, Samsung, and Rakuten. The platform’s three-tier high quality system gives clear pathways for advertisers to entry premium stock whereas encouraging larger manufacturing requirements by means of higher placement eligibility.

Measurement capabilities have advanced alongside focusing on infrastructure. Teads launched deterministic CTV measurement on October 23, 2025, introducing monitoring capabilities for web site visits, leads, and gross sales immediately tied to CTV publicity. The answer makes use of proprietary algorithms and family graphs for cross-device measurement, addressing fragmentation challenges which have restricted CTV effectiveness.

The programmatic infrastructure supporting CTV promoting continues maturing. Latest PPC Land protection signifies 72% of entrepreneurs plan to extend programmatic funding, with CTV representing a major progress driver. Nielsen integrated attention metrics with attain knowledge by means of partnership with Adelaide on October 7, 2025, introducing unified measurement approaches that gauge each viewers attain and media consideration concurrently.

Gracenote’s content material metadata already powers basic infrastructure throughout the media ecosystem. Main publishers depend on TMS IDs for search and discovery capabilities that assist platforms floor related content material to viewers. The corporate’s database covers leisure business insights spanning thousands and thousands of titles throughout a whole lot of streaming catalogs, offering complete protection that permits standardized program identification throughout fragmented platform environments.

The platform will preview on an appointment-only foundation at CES working January 6-8, 2026, offering business professionals their first hands-on expertise with the brand new focusing on capabilities. This preview timing positions the platform for broader market adoption forward of the 2026 upfront market, the place promoting stock for the subsequent tv season is historically negotiated.

Skilled viewers focusing on by means of contextual knowledge represents rising alternative as B2B decision-makers more and more devour video content material throughout a number of gadgets. Innovid expanded LinkedIn integration for CTV advertisingon July 22, 2025, enabling unified marketing campaign administration throughout social and CTV channels by means of standardized workflows that leverage skilled demographic knowledge.

The announcement comes as Linked TV promoting spending approaches substantial progress milestones. Trade projections point out CTV promoting will proceed increasing as audiences migrate from conventional linear tv to streaming platforms. The introduction of standardized program-level focusing on capabilities by means of Gracenote Content material Join probably allows extra refined marketing campaign optimization inside this quickly rising channel.

Timeline

• October 1, 2025 — Gracenote releases report exhibiting solely 9.2% of media executives prioritize contextual focusing on at program stage regardless of 32% discovering CTV ineffective
• June 5, 2025 — Magnite partners with Anoki to allow scene-level focusing on capabilities, changing into first SSP with multimodal AI evaluation for CTV
• August 19, 2025 — IPG Mediabrands launches Acxiom Contextual CTV powered by IRIS_ID, marking first international holding firm deployment of CTV-specific contextual resolution
• September 16, 2025 — Index Exchange becomes first SSP to combine Gracenote contextual intelligence with model security segments and Do-Not-Air controls
• November 4, 2025 — Industry expert warns advertisers in opposition to treating CTV like show campaigns, recommending Non-public Market and Programmatic Assured offers
• October 23, 2025 — Teads launches deterministic CTV measurement monitoring web site visits, leads, and gross sales tied to CTV publicity
• November 6, 2025 — IAB Europe analysis reveals CTV promoting spend on retail media projected to develop 3 times quicker than retail media search
• December 4, 2025 — Nielsen’s Gracenote launches Content material Join platform enabling program-level focusing on with standardized metadata entry for businesses, manufacturers, SSPs, and DSPs
• January 6-8, 2026 — Gracenote will preview Content material Join platform on appointment-only foundation at CES

Abstract

Who: Nielsen’s Gracenote, the content material knowledge enterprise unit powering shopper leisure search and discovery, launched the platform. The corporate gives standardized program metadata and TMS IDs relied upon by main publishers throughout the media ecosystem. Kanishk Prasad serves as VP of Product at Gracenote.

What: Gracenote Content material Join gives businesses, manufacturers, supply-side platforms, and demand-side platforms easy accessibility to standardized program-level metadata for exact CTV advert focusing on. The platform options versatile workflows enabling direct hands-on deal creation or partner-mediated execution by means of SSPs and DSPs. The system faucets Gracenote’s proprietary content material ID graph with standardized metadata organized in structured taxonomy and related by distinctive TMS IDs, offering visibility into content material indicators together with style, score, and temper.

When: Nielsen’s Gracenote introduced the launch on December 4, 2025. The platform will preview on an appointment-only foundation at CES working January 6-8, 2026.

The place: The platform operates throughout related tv environments, offering standardized metadata for advert focusing on throughout a number of ad-supported CTV platforms and streaming companies. Implementation happens by means of direct platform entry or by way of associate SSPs and DSPs inside present programmatic workflows.

Why: The launch addresses strategic misalignment in CTV promoting the place 32% of media executives discover campaigns ineffective whereas solely 9.2% prioritize contextual focusing on on the program stage. The platform allows privacy-compliant program-level focusing on that gives model security management whereas sustaining marketing campaign scale, addressing fragmentation challenges throughout streaming environments the place reveals seem on a number of platforms. With CTV’s share of media budgets doubling from 14% in 2023 to twenty-eight% in 2025 and 72% of entrepreneurs planning elevated programmatic funding, standardized contextual focusing on infrastructure turns into important for efficient marketing campaign execution.