• Alphonso Raises $5.6 Million to Scale TV Data Services

    TV data provider Alphonso has raised $5.6 million, led by Manifest Investment Partners and including individual investors such as former TV executive Jeff Sagansky. Alphonso plans to use the funds to increase domestic and global distribution and ramp up hiring. Alphonso said it’s been profitable since 2014 and has been customer-funded.

    Alphonso is among the companies that is using data to improve the impact and efficiency of TV advertising. The company has built its Alphonso TV Data Cloud by tracking all of the programming and ads that appear on 200+ broadcast and cable TV networks in the U.S. plus top OTT services. In addition, Alphonso has its automated content recognition (ACR) embedded in 40 million+ set-top boxes, smart TVs and smartphones that monitor and record what viewers are watching in real time.

    The data is used to power 2 services Alphonso offers: one that enables advertisers to retarget TV ads to specific viewers on mobile devices and another, Alphonso Insights, which is a self-serve, SaaS analytics service providing detailed campaign metrics and offline attribution.

    The retargeting gives advertisers the means to extend their campaigns to viewers who are increasingly using second screens while watching TV, effectively distracted from the ads that appear there. Mobile delivery also enables improved engagement and conversion opportunities beyond the TV ad placements.

    Meanwhile Alphonso Insights, which was launched a couple of months ago, gives users the ability to set a date range and specify a brand and instantly see a report that shows total spend and airing of ads for that brand, plus which networks and shows they aired against, spending levels and share of voice. A paid version of Alphonso Insights, which works in conjunction with partners, lets users see online and offline attribution for KPIs like purchases, customer acquisition, foot traffic, etc.