It looks like consumers will be watching more TV than usual for a while. So let’s look at TV advertising news. First up: Valassis just launched Connected TV, a service that lets ad buyers use Valassis’ 120 million household identity graph to target audiences on devices, apps, and networks. Buyers can also correlate ad placements with results including foot traffic.
Proxy sells a mobile phone app that broadcasts an identity signal, avoiding the need for keys, ID cards or passcodes. It’s secure in that the signal is a single-use, encrypted token that only makes sense to user-authorized devices. But all bets are off if a phone gets lost or the user just wants a few moments of privacy. Anyway, they just raised a $42 million Series B, bringing their total to just over $60 million.
Back to business as usual: video analytics platform Deep North has raised a $25.7 million Series A. Deep North watches retail shoppers to understand behaviors such as traffic patterns and items purchased. Cool and not too creepy, assuming it’s all anonymous.
CDP and data solutions provider Zeotap is adding the ID5 ID to its identity graph. The ID5 identifier supports individual-level programmatic ad targeting without relying on third-party cookies, extending the reach of Zeotap ad segments.