Media Rating Council, a U.S. media industry audit and accreditation body, grants its first accreditation for CTV brand safety and contextual analysis 

London, UK – 9 February, 2023 – GumGum, a contextual-first, global digital advertising platform, today announces that it has achieved an additional accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC), a U.S. based nonprofit organization charged with auditing and accrediting measurement products used by media buyers and sellers. The MRC has granted GumGum Verity™, the company’s contextual intelligence platform, a new accreditation for the measurement of English-language content-level classification and URL reporting through the Verity™ API for CTV.

“The addition of accredited content-level classification for CTV to GumGum’s existing MRC accreditations, which had already included classification and reporting for desktop and mobile web, is a noteworthy achievement,” said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC. “It speaks to GumGum’s commitments to both transparency and innovation, and we’re pleased that advertisers and others now have the benefit of an MRC-accredited solution to help them navigate this critical emerging space.”

Verity’s accredited, content-level capabilities go beyond current solutions that rely on video metadata by conducting frame-by-frame analysis to ensure a more precise reading of a video’s content. This provides a comprehensive, human-like understanding of CTV content and an accurate way for advertisers to target users dynamically in contextually-relevant and brand safe environments at scale. The accreditation also provides exceptional content monetisation for CTV publishers through superior inventory alignment with advertisers in a cookieless, privacy-forward solution.

A study conducted by GumGum and MAGNA Global (which has not been audited by the MRC) found that ads placed with insights that go beyond metadata and analyse the video itself create a 12 percent stronger alignment between an ad and a video. The study also found that video ads placed on a content level were 2.3x more memorable than video ads placed using only metadata or property-level capabilities.

“CTV adoption is transforming how we view and consume content in an increasingly sophisticated digital media ecosystem,” adds Peter Wallace, General Manager, EMEA, at GumGum. “GumGum is committed to providing transparent and trustworthy solutions that will herald advertisers into the digital-first age. This additional accreditation from the MRC will now ensure that advertisers looking to engage with audiences in CTV environments can do so safely and with unparalleled precision.”

CTV is set to be one of the fastest-growing environments for digital advertising with almost two-thirds of the UK population already consuming content on CTV devices. By 2026, it’s expected that 70% of the UK population will be CTV users. In emerging environments it is critical that advertisers have a clear view of the solutions ad tech partners are providing to ensure both brand safety and campaign optimisation that drive increased attention and outcomes. 

“It still shocks me that the norm in advertising is to choose to partner with providers who have limited third party validation. Nowadays, we don’t even choose what restaurant we want to eat at without some sort of third-party validation that it’s a good experience. Why would we not do the same for protecting our brand and advertising dollars?” said Phil Schraeder, CEO of GumGum. “CTV is looking to have an explosive year in 2023, and now with our MRC content-level accreditation for CTV, advertisers and publishers alike can confidently partner with us to advance their brand safety and advertising strategies.” 

To earn MRC accreditation, an independent CPA firm engaged by the MRC completed a comprehensive audit and review of GumGum’s systems and processes to ensure Verity met the MRC’s rigorous standards. The MRC’s recognition is a significant achievement that underscores Verity’s advanced capabilities. During this accreditation process no testing was done for GumGum’s content-level mobile, in-app capabilities, therefore, GumGum was denied in-app accreditation. The accreditation only applies to English-language content at this time and is not applicable to mobile in-app.

GumGum’s In-Video product, a recently patented and non-intrusive overlay ad unit for OTT and CTV streams, is currently available across North America and will be available in the EMEA region at a later date. 

For more information, please reach out to pr@gumgum.com. 

About GumGum

GumGum is a contextual-first, global digital advertising platform that captures people’s attention without the use of personal data. We believe that an advertising ecosystem based on understanding a consumer’s active frame of mind rather than behavior builds a more equitable and safer future for consumers, publishers, and advertisers alike. Founded in 2008, GumGum is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and operates in 19 markets worldwide. For more information, please visit www.gumgum.com.

About the Media Rating Council (MRC)

The Media Rating Council is a non-profit industry association established in 1963 comprised of leading television, radio, print and Internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations, whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research as well as other applicable industry measurement guidelines; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently more than 110 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.mediaratingcouncil.org.