Ask someone to explain how ACR (automatic content measurement) works and they will tell you all about how it’s like Shazam (the app, not the comic book character) in that it involves taking a couple of pixels off of the smart TV screen and matching it to a database in order to determine what is being watched on the glass.

What they probably won’t be able to tell you (at least not yet) is that “the database” likely comes from a company called CCR Media, whose media monitoring services are used by most all of the major players in the TV space.

The company has become a must-have for anyone in the measurement space while flying below the industry’s radar.

I sat down with Ben Ropke, CCR’s VP, Product, and Ben Saboe, their Director of Client Services, to get a better understanding of how media measurement works, why their version works so well, and what we can expect in the space as the industry shifts to streaming. 

ALAN WOLK: What are some of the big things going on in the media monitoring universe—what should people be paying attention to now?

BEN ROPKE:  We've been refining our narrative, specifically focusing on our reference video segment of the business which is “the database” everyone talks about. What sets us apart is our expansive reach. We have a presence in every U.S. market, and internationally, we're present in 23 countries. 

ALAN WOLK: What new areas are you looking at?

BEN ROPKE:  Because we're already entrenched in all these markets and because we continually gather all these valuable signals, we have a great story around measurement, analytics, and brand management. And as an extension of that, we've identified an adjacent opportunity. 

There are several potential audiences for this. One of the more promising is the station group that wishes to monitor the broadcast of their local television stations across various platforms. 

So instead of just verifying the successful transmission of their signal, we can directly access it off the air to confirm its quality, metadata accuracy, and other key factors. This monitoring extends across different platforms, including cable, satellite, vMVPDs FAST channels, and more. 

That's an area where I think they've got blind spots today in that they’re starting to distribute their signal across a host of different platforms. They're hoping that they can pick up revenue on all those platforms to kind of make up for the fact that it's degrading on their traditional distribution platforms, but they don't have the capacity or, the resources to monitor across those platforms. So one use case we see here is we can set up our broadcast monitoring tool, which is easy since we're already in market. 

If there's geofencing that prevents you from getting that signal unless you're in market—I’m thinking about the vMVPDS— then we’re already there. We can run in those markets. So it's kind of one model. 

ALAN WOLK: What other opportunities do you see on the horizon?

Another opportunity is with the diginets. Take Ion or Catchy Comedy, for instance. They are going to want to know  if their broadcast is consistently up and running on all those local stations that they are essentially leasing space on. We can provide an integrated perspective on this, offering a snapshot of the signal's status across all stations so they can drill in when there is an issue. We monitor not just for the presence of a signal but also for any discrepancies, like audio issues, signal errors, or the absence of closed captioning when expected and those are all important stats for the diginets, especially as they are now running across multiple platforms.

BEN SABOE: Our focus now is on cross-platform broadcast monitoring. While several players have dedicated resources to create impressive UIs with alert thresholds, they often assume the client already has signal access and you're licensing their software to pipe those signals in and just use it as a dashboarding and alerting tool. They mainly offer software that requires the client to funnel these signals and that assumes that you have personnel to monitor the software 24/7, which is often not the case.

BEN ROPKE: Our proposition is different. We have the software, we have the staff that will proactively reach out if we see a single outage and help you walk through and troubleshoot it, telling clients, “We're seeing that the OTA signal is up, the cable signal is up, but none of the vMVPDs have signal, so it's probably an issue with your digital feed going and you should start there.” 

ALAN WOLK: So is having a managed service something that is important to clients?

BEN SABOE: Definitely. When we are at trade shows, attendees will come up to us to thank us because our NOC routinely contacts their stations about signal issues. Their feedback has significantly influenced our current direction. 

BEN ROPKE:  Our unique proposition isn't necessarily about having the flashiest UI. It's about offering a managed service, eliminating the need for clients to obtain software, access signals, and then manage everything. This comprehensive approach is our primary differentiator. Many station groups don't even have a dedicated engineer for every station, but rather a rotating engineer for multiple stations. This makes consistent monitoring challenging.

BEN SABOE: Unfortunately, it's become more of a norm than an exception.

ALAN WOLK: Anything farther down the road? What are you looking at for 2024 and beyond?

BEN ROPKE: We're also venturing into the distribution space, although it's still early days. If we think about our current operations, we're gathering numerous signals for analysis. However, we're not a source for redistribution. But, we're already engaged in some early-stage pilots. 

For instance, there are mid-sized ISPs trying to establish their IPTV services to enhance their market packages. While some big players offer white-labeled IPTV services, they often don't cover local channels. We're assisting an ISP in this aspect, making their operations smoother. 

Ultimately, we see potential in offering a comprehensive package to these ISPs and to the content services that support them, where they can source all their local channels from us. Moreover, with impending tech evolutions like ATSC 3.0, even the big satellite MVPDs might need to revisit their local acquisition strategies. We're positioning ourselves to be a pivotal player in that space too.

You can find CCR Media at the NAB Show in New York next week at Booth #950. You can set up an appointment by following this link.