Former Criteo sales leader joins MarketCast to grow and evolve sales leadership team

Los Angeles, Calif. – April 12, 2023 – Data-driven insights and research company MarketCast today announced Debra Meyer is joining the company as its Chief Revenue Officer. In this role, Meyer will lead all commercial sales efforts and will be responsible for driving sales strategy and opportunities across its Research and Ad Solutions businesses.

Meyer joins MarketCast with decades of experience leading sales teams at top ad tech, research, and software companies. Most recently, Meyer was Vice President of Agency Development at Criteo, a global advertising data and commerce platform. While there, she led the sales teams responsible for driving opportunities with the world’s leading advertising agencies on behalf of their brand clients. Earlier in her career, she spent more than a decade at Nielsen managing the sales efforts for the online digital research side of the business in addition to holding leadership positions at Microsoft and Salesforce.

“Bringing together our sales teams under Debra’s leadership will help us supercharge our approach to client service, account planning, and sales team training and development,” said John Batter, CEO of MarketCast. “Debra’s experience leading large commercial teams in the ad tech and research space will help us better shape the future of our commercial strategy to win new clients and grow existing ones - all in support of achieving our annual growth plans.”

Meyer joins MarketCast during a time of growth and rapid product innovation. The company recently launched its cross-platform Brand Effect™ advertising measurement solution which aims to be the standard for measuring ad recall and resonance across CTV, Linear TV, Streaming, and Social. Additionally, the company’s qualitative and quantitative research is trusted by the biggest names in entertainment, technology, sports, and consumer products to measure brand fandom and engagement at every stage of the marketing funnel.

“What drew me to MarketCast was the company’s reputation for exceptional client service and research delivery as well as its vision to transform advertising research and measurement through advanced AI and data analytics,” said Meyer. “Developing sales cultures that put the customer first is what I’m most passionate about and I look forward to helping transform MarketCast’s commercial efforts to support the needs of our brand and advertising clients as their businesses and audiences continue to evolve.”

Partnership with VIZIO’s Inscape enables MarketCast’s Brand Effect to measure advertising performance on CTV

Los Angeles, Calif. – March 23, 2023 – Data driven insights and research company MarketCast today announced that it is expanding its Brand Effect™ advertising measurement platform to support the changing way audiences are engaging with media and entertainment across platforms. Long considered an industry standard for measuring advertising resonance on linear TV, MarketCast Brand Effect now provides advertisers a holistic view of how ad creative is breaking through and driving memorability with audiences across CTV, streaming and social media.

As part of its new Brand Effect launch, MarketCast has partnered with Inscape, the leading currency-grade Smart TV ACR data provider and the data technology division of VIZIO, to measure the impact of advertising across CTV streaming services. MarketCast will identify audiences exposed to CTV ads on Smart TVs to determine whether viewers can recall ads accurately, connect them to the right brand and whether ads are influencing the purchase of the advertiser’s products and services. In short, Brand Effect will help marketers understand if their CTV ads are hitting the mark with audiences.

“With CTV experiencing massive growth both in viewership and ad spending, it’s critical our Brand Effect platform evolves to support advertisers and their measurement needs everywhere they need to be,” said John Batter, CEO of MarketCast. “We are thrilled to bring the most innovative version of our ad resonance measurement to market with Inscape’s leading TV viewing data. The Inscape team pioneered Smart TV measurement technology, delivering glass-level insights that provide advertisers greater visibility into how their ad creative is performing across CTV services.”

“We’re excited to expand our partnership with MarketCast to include Inscape’s cutting edge streaming ad detection solution. Doing so gives MarketCast an ability to achieve their goal of providing higher-fidelity data and insights to advertisers seeking to capitalize on the opportunity that exists within the CTV ecosystem,” said Ken Norcross, VP Data Licensing & Insights, VIZIO. “By way of the most robust, representative and reliable source for Smart TV data in America, Marketcast will now be able to help drive key upper funnel metrics that CMOs find critical to inform their ad strategy and creative decisions.”

MarketCast is also partnering with major broadcasters and streamers to measure the impact of entertainment content and platforms on advertising resonance. In addition to having its Brand Effect measurement solution certified by NBCU’s Ads and Partnerships team, MarketCast and NBCU recently introduced a new Content Quality Index (CQI) to identify how entertainment content and advertising environments drive advertising resonance with audiences across platforms. The two companies will be trialing Brand Effect’s new Resonance Ratings™ feature with advertisers and other measurement providers through the end of the year.

The Brand Effect cross-platform solution represents the first new advertising measurement product MarketCast has launched following its acquisition of Phoenix Marketing International (PMI) last year. It combines an always-on survey engine, which connects with more than 15,000 people daily, with advanced data science to measure audience feedback about ad and brand recall, ad likeability and intent to purchase. The system is designed to be interoperable with existing measurement systems from leading providers, allowing media sellers and buyers to use traditional systems to measure audience reach and frequency, while at the same time, using MarketCast Brand Effect to measure advertising resonance – without conflict.

About MarketCast
MarketCast research, analytics and data science fuels fandom for leading studios, entertainment platforms, sports, and lifestyle brands. Our unique mix of research analytics is combined with big data science to provide clients powerful insights to inform their biggest business decisions. Today, MarketCast counts some of the biggest advertisers and brands as clients, including leading Hollywood studios, streaming services, video games publishers, tech platforms, lifestyle brands and sports leagues.

About Inscape
Inscape is a leading provider of currency-grade ACR data and the technology division of VIZIO Holding Corp. (NYSE: VZIO). Inscape’s TV intelligence platform powers incredible experiences for TV viewers, market leading products for VIZIO advertisers and is fueling the transformation in America’s TV measurement industry. The automated content recognition (ACR) pioneer generates screen-level accurate and robust, always-on data feeds containing every second of TV viewing, giving media companies, agencies, brands and measurement providers the intelligence to modernize, optimize and revolutionize the TV and streaming marketplace. Founded in 2008 as TV Interactive Systems, Inc. and later acquired by VIZIO in 2015, Inscape operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary based in San Francisco, California until 2020 when it was integrated into VIZIO’s Platform+ Business.

Former Kantar and Nielsen leader joins MarketCast to lead the company’s advertising research and measurement portfolio

Los Angeles, Calif. – December 13, 2022 – MarketCast today announced Amy Fenton is joining its leadership team as its new Head of Ad Solutions. In this role, Fenton will head all MarketCast’s advertising research, which today spans the entire advertising lifecycle, from early creative concepts and copy testing to in-market advertising and campaign measurement, including full-blown advertising attribution.

Fenton brings more than two decades of advertising and consumer research experience to MarketCast. Prior to joining the company, Fenton was the Chief Client Officer for Kantar North America, where she led the client service teams responsible for managing the company’s top brand and advertiser relationships. Before Kantar, Fenton served in research, client service, and marketing leadership roles at Ipsos, and before that, spent more than two decades at Nielsen on the “Buy” side of its business (now NielsenIQ). A strong supporter of women leaders in research, Fenton began her career at Procter and Gamble.

“Amy is one of the best and brightest leaders in advertising research today, having spent decades working on all sides of the business,” said John Batter, CEO of MarketCast. “Her experience guiding large research and client-focused teams in service of the biggest brands on the planet will be invaluable to MarketCast as we continue to aggressively innovate and grow our Ad Solutions portfolio and challenge the industry incumbents.”

Fenton will take charge of MarketCast’s Ad Solutions organization, which includes more than 200 advertising researchers and a portfolio of world-class ad research products, including those from MarketCast’s recent acquisitions of Phoenix Marketing International, Communicus, and Invoke. Fenton will also partner with MarketCast’s product, technology, and data science teams to further evolve its advertising solutions, helping to fuse traditional quantitative and qualitative research methods with big behavioral data to deliver transparency across the entire marketing funnel.

“I was drawn to MarketCast’s vision for next-generation ad research and their passion for pairing great tech platforms and data science with the expertise of real advertising researchers,” said Fenton. “What MarketCast is creating has the power to transform how ad research is done, delivering to CMOs what they crave most, lightening quick data with thoughtful insights, to help them pivot or double down on their ad strategies.”

MarketCast’s Ad Solutions support the entire advertising lifecycle and include MarketCast Ad Effect for pre-market ad testing and research, and MarketCast Brand Effect (formerly Nielsen TV Brand Effect), which is considered the standard for measuring ad recall and resonance for ads on linear and CTV. Combined with its other advertising research products, MarketCast now tests and measures more than 40,000 ads annually for top brands, sports leagues, movie studios, and streamers, gathering critical audience feedback about advertising storylines, creative elements, and messaging.

MarketCast accelerates its advertising effectiveness research, testing, and measurement with the addition of Phoenix’s people and platforms

Los Angeles, Calif. – March 24, 2022 – MarketCast today announced the acquisition of Phoenix Marketing International, a leading research and analytics provider that specializes in advertising measurement. With Phoenix, MarketCast is accelerating its advertising effectiveness expertise, and gaining a powerful portfolio of research products that span the entire advertising lifecycle, from identifying what consumers think about pre-released ads to measuring how ads influence consumer beliefs and behaviors.

As media consumption shifts, advertisers are challenged to deliver the right marketing messages and creative to engage and convert audiences. Phoenix is known for its lightning-quick ad testing and measurement insights. The company’s Phoenix Brand Effect platform (formerly Nielsen TV Brand Effect) is considered the standard for measuring ad performance, including the influence of ads on consumer affinity and consideration, and purchase intent and lift. Today, the company tests and measures thousands of ads annually, gathering critical feedback about advertising storylines, creative elements, and messaging from core audience segments.

“The acquisition of Phoenix supports MarketCast’s vision of creating the most tech and data-forward research business on the planet, where primary research is combined with big data to determine what fans watch, buy, and listen to most, and why they choose to watch, buy, and listen” said John Batter, CEO of MarketCast. “We see tremendous opportunity to bring these two businesses together, combining our unique media research and big data expertise to innovate new ad effectiveness solutions.”

Combined, MarketCast now boasts more than 100 technologists and data scientists and 400 quantitative and qualitative researchers skilled in media and brand advertising research and analytics. Phoenix will benefit from MarketCast’s big data expertise, including its Smart TV and ad attribution measurement capabilities, to deliver even more value to advertising clients. Together, MarketCast will help advertisers and media companies uncover deeper audience insights, with more granularity, to better understand and predict advertising performance.

“We are very excited to join MarketCast, a team that shares our common values, passion, and vision for the future of advertising research and technology,” said Al DeCotiis, Founder and CEO of Phoenix. “With a powerful portfolio of media and advertising research and a record of working with the biggest names in entertainment, sports, and technology, MarketCast is the ideal home for Phoenix’s people, platforms and clients, and we look forward to beginning this new chapter of growth and innovation together.”

MarketCast is building upon an already solid foundation in advertising effectiveness in media, entertainment, and sports, which today includes more than 3,000 TV and digital ads tested annually with millions of fans. The addition of Phoenix helps MarketCast expand its measurement beyond media and entertainment to support large brand advertisers, including leading telecommunications companies, automakers, financial services, and CPG brands. It also introduces Phoenix’s clients to MarketCast’s quantitative and qualitative research, which is trusted by top media and technology companies.

The Phoenix team, which includes researchers, data analysts, product leaders, and engineers, will join a growing MarketCast organization, which features leaders from Nielsen, Gracenote, Omnicom, Comscore, Material+, Kantar, Netflix, and Dreamworks. Earlier this year, MarketCast acquired real-time entertainment research platform, Invoke, and, in late 2020, acquired and integrated data science leader, Deductive.