Week In Review: ComScore and Adobe Get Cozy, But Where Does That Leave Nielsen; Rovi Might Buy TiVo

1.  ComScore and Adobe Get Cozy, But Where Does That Leave Nielsen? Adobe, that two-timing minx, announced this week that it was getting into bed with ComScore to fuel a cross-platform measurement system that would track OTT video views (including the ones commonly known as “television”) across all sorts of devices, giving networks and advertisers a broader and deeper view of their audiences.This is a coup of sorts for Adobe, whose software also helps fuel Nielsen’s new Total Audience Measurement system, which has been running in semi-stealth mode for the past few months. (Networks have allegedly been using it, but the results don’t seem to have been made public.)Why It Matters OTT measurement (or the lack thereof) has long been a thorn in the industry’s side. Nielsen has long been a thorn in everybody’s side—any time there is a monopoly, the industry suffers.ComScore recently bought rival Rentrak in an attempt to catch up to Nielsen and this latest announcement raises the distinct possibility that Nielsen might have some competition after all. Being able to track users across platforms is a big deal, as there’s real value in knowing that User X watches these shows on the tablet and these shows on the TV and shops at these sites. While privacy advocates may look askance, anonymizing the data should go a long way to keeping everyone safe.What You Need To Do About It Set up a meeting with ComScore ASAP. Find out about the new system and what it can do. Then set up a meeting with Nielsen and ask them to explain why TAM is still better. Play around with both systems and consider making use of both of them. Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing too. 2.  Rovi Might Buy TiVoTiVo, which has the dubious distinction of going from the genericized verb for digitally recording a TV show (circa 2002 or so) to “who?” may actually be on the auction block. The service, which still has legions of fans and a UI that is widely held to be the gold standard, had enjoyed a brief respite from its death march thanks to some lawsuit victories. But that proved to be a blip on the proverbial radar and TiVo stock has again headed south.Rovi and TiVo is actually a brilliant combination that may provide value in the current environment. Allow us to explain:  TiVo recently made two smart moves. They bought Digitalsmiths, one of the big three recommendation engines (Jinni and ThinkAnalytics being the others) and they set up an analytics arm, TiVo Analytics, that processes the data collected from their users’ DVRs.Both of those functions nicely complement Rovi’s electronic program guide capabilities. Rovi also has a nascent personalizatoin engine capability stemming from their recent purchase of Veveo.Why It Matters Combine Rovi’s resources with TiVo’s analytics and recommendations and Rovi could become an important source of user data, which is something the networks sorely lack, particularly in terms of fueling addressable advertising. If Rovi can get some of its customers to incorporate TiVo’s DVR and interface, the result could be a real game-changer.What You Need To Do About ItRight now, nothing, it’s just a rumor. But if it comes to pass, definitely keep your eye on the combined company and what it’s up to in terms of user data.And if you want to have some fun, ask someone under 30 to “TIVo” something for you and see what kind of look you get.