The Media Leader Podcast
Andrew Cole, board member of Liberty Global and one of the original backers of GB News, talks about shaking up the status quo of TV measurement and trading.
Cole’s new venture, Digital Audience Data (DAD), seeks to get all major telecoms operators in advanced economies to jointly share data for a “more accurate” TV measurement system than panel-based legacy ones, such as those operated by Barb and Kantar Media in the UK.
Importantly, Cole insists that DAD will not charge advertisers to use such a system, which seeks to pool user data telcos, such as UK operators Virgin Media O2, BT/EE, Vodafone and Vodafone/Three.
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‘Advertisers can compare which is more accurate’
Cole reveals that two of these players will almost certainly back DAD, while the other two are more like “70%” certain to join the launch.
“We will publish our data — Barb will have its data, we will have ours. Advertisers will be able to see which is more accurate,” he says. “For those who use our our tech platform, they will receive the data for free. We will not be selling the data. But you can only access the data if you use our adtech platform.”
Cole also talks about his track record working with Steve Jobs and Apple on the iPhone’s launch and how his career has been built on “disrupting” legacy systems.
And, amid rumours of GB News following in TalkTV’s footsteps by going online only, Cole answers questions about the rationale for launching the channel in 2021 — a move that attracted calls for an advertiser boycott before it began programming.
Thanks to our production partners Trisonic for editing this episode.
Previous episodes
Podcast: Les Binet interview, plus media prospects under Labour and Netflix/Amazon commissions
Podcast: Talent, creativity and other priorities for the industry this year
Stories that mattered this week: The Media Leader Awards, ‘TikTok election’, Apple’s DMA quandary
