In today’s ExchangeWire digest: Barb to start reporting YouTube viewing on TV screens; DoubleVerify acquires Rockerbox; and Schibsted Media acquires T4 and MTV Finland

Barb to start reporting YouTube viewing on TV screens

Joint industry currency (JIC) Barb has announced that it is extending its measurement initiative to include daily audience reporting for YouTube channels viewed on TV devices. In what is dubbed a world-first, Barb is selecting 200 channels to report upon in collaboration with SeeViews and Kantar Media, with each channel categorised according to the type of organisation/individual that produced it. 

DoubleVerify acquires Rockerbox

DoubleVerify has announced that it has acquired marketing attribution platform Rockerbox in an all-cash transaction valued at USD$85m (£67.2m). The rationale behind the purchase is purported to bolster DoubleVerify’s capabilities within multi-touch attribution (MTA), marketing mix modeling (MMM) and incrementality testing. The announcement follows earlier news that DoubleVerify is to offer URL-level reporting for ad placements, echoing a similar move by Amazon, in response to industry pressure following a damning report on brand safety released by Adalytics.

Schibsted Media acquires TV4 and MTV Finland

International media group Schibsted Media has announced that it is set to acquire Telia Company’s TV & Media business (TVM), comprising of TV4 and MTV Finland. The deal values TVM at SEK6.55bn (£487m), representing an EBITDA multiple of 21x. In a statement, Schibsted Media CEO Siv Juvik Tveitnes wrote, “TV4 and MTV are trusted and independent news providers and national cornerstones for the protection of democratic values, as well as being known for their high quality entertainment and drama production.”