CCR Media Is The Database ACR Is Built On

Describe how ACR (automatic content recognition) works and the conversation generally goes something like this: “the provider captures some pixels on the screen of an opted-in viewer and they match those pixels against the database to see what the viewer is watching.”

“The database.”

A vague entity, somewhere out there that is meticulously tracking all of the shows and commercials that appear on linear TV.

The database,

The database actually has a name though. It’s called “CCR Media”, a Cedar Rapids-based company that has been quietly powering the ACR revolution through deals with almost all of the major measurement companies and OEMs.

CCR’s website says that they are the “gold standard of media monitoring.” Which is an understatement of sorts given that they are more or less the only standard for media monitoring, a specialty whose name essentially describes what they do: maintain a database of what each TV station is airing so that companies compiling ACR data can match the pixels they take from a viewer’s TV screen in order to determine whether they’ve been watching a show or a commercial, and then which show or commercial it was.

Media monitoring also allows broadcasters to be aware of whether they are having issues with their signals, something that streaming services will need to start paying attention to as well, particularly ad-supported streaming services.

CCR’s venture into media monitoring began, as these things often do, when a local client asked if they could help them track their broadcast, to understand what was on and whether the signal was on the whole time.

After getting that down pat, they asked the client if there was anything else they could help them with, the client said they could actually use some media monitoring in their stations in other cities, and a business was born.

Today, CCR has the capability to serve 23 countries and just under 7000 channels in the US alone, a number that includes all 210 markets. 

They are a critical piece of the measurement ecosystem, one that until recently, was overlooked. 

Still, as CEO Shea Kelly pointed out, being the only game in town was not enough to grow a market. He attributes CCR’s success to their dedication to service and ability to anticipate their customers’ needs.

To wit, when a client recently shared that the cost of transcoding was way too high per unit per channel, CCR developed their own patent pending transcoding solution that made the process much more cost-effective. 

“CCR media is essentially the easy button for our clients, we manage access to raw video or audio content. And then they utilize it with their software in whatever ways they need,” explained Zach Frost, Service Delivery Manager. 

That includes helping their clients understand what shows viewers are watching in order to create an accurate accounting for their ad customers.

“CCR is the connector between what's being played on TV and the outcome of the companies or brands, or measurement that is behind it,” said Ben Saboe, who runs Strategic Partnerships. “Making sure that they are getting the most efficient use of their spend, or their money during whatever program or event is playing on TV.”

Or, as NOC Manager Chris Sanders noted, “Nobody likes commercials. But you know what, if I have to watch a commercial, I hope it's one that's pertinent to me. And I think that's something we help our clients achieve.”

CCR’s background in technology helps them bring things to the table that other companies can’t provide. 

“Our background is infrastructure,” noted Seth Kelly, Chief Innovation Officer. “And we build our infrastructure to have an SLA (Service Level Agreement) service. Most everybody else in the space comes from the media space, so infrastructure is secondary to them. Whereas to us, infrastructure comes first.”

A big part of CCR’s decision to step out from behind the curtain, so to speak, is their desire to expand the business. This is a smart move, given that ACR measurement has become such a major part of the TV measurement universe. As more viewing moves to streaming, monitoring those outlets, their linear streaming outputs in particular will become even more important. Ditto the expected growth of ATSC 3.0 for broadcast, which will also make media monitoring mission critical.

“Traditionally, we've always been behind the scenes, quietly just working with our partners,” said Saboe. “But now we're really seeing ourselves as the extension of the business, meeting our clients, meeting our partners on their journey, mirroring our roadmaps with their roadmaps.”

All that will be on display at the NAB Show this year, where the company plans to make something of a splash, letting the industry know that it’s not just “the database”, it’s CCR.

As for their ultimate goal, Shea Kelly said, “People come to us and they say, ‘I want scale. I want speed, and I want quality.’ And I tell them, well, that's us. We can help you do that. We can help speed up the creation of products and then the go to market. That's what I want people to know about us.”