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PeerLogix signs OTT ad pact with DMP & Neustar
MUMBAI: PeerLogix has announced that it had signed a 12-month revenue sharing agreement with an unspecified Data Management Platform (DMP) in the digital advertising industry.
It had earlier announced a partnership with Neustar, Inc., a neutral provider of real-time information services, as a preferred data onboarding provider to expand PeerLogix’s data distribution to data management and demand-side platforms. This partnership will enable clients of PeerLogix to execute highly targeted cross-channel advertising campaigns powered by a global audience of 170 million households of Over-the-Top television programming, movies, games and listeners of music. Neustar was selected because it provides precise, scalable, secure, and privacy-friendly data onboarding capabilities in the market.
The DMP partnership enables PeerLogix’s digital audience segments to be sold directly on the partner company’s platform and to their clientele, including major brands and Fortune 500 companies and features a rev-share commitment to PeerLogix to be paid on a monthly basis. Furthermore, the partnership provides a new capability for the partner company — the ability to advertise, target, and measure a massive amount of previously unavailable OTT audiences based on digital television, music and movie viewing and listening habits of the residents — bolstering the DMP’s offering to its clients in the media and entertainment industries.
OTT is now mainstream and is projected to grow from USD 28.04 Billion in 2015 to USD 62.03 Billion by 2020 as people continue to cut ties with their cable TV packages and instead opt for a combination of subscription and non-subscription based OTT services, such as streaming applications and websites.
“Advertisers are rapidly seeking out OTT supply and other ways to make up for lost viewership from linear-tv audiences that continue to contract in overall size. Our partners are taking advantage of our OTT Audience Graph to empower themselves to reach households lost to cord-cutting and the fragmentation of cable, and maximize advertising spend to streaming and digital audiences,” said PeerLogix CEO Ray Colwell.
The company monitors OTT viewership of mainstream television programming, movies, and major musical artists, and periodically reports on trends seen in the market.
Cumulative video hours for non-subscription OTT viewership was observed at 306 million hours which was a +20.9% increase from the prior quarter. Based on this rate of growth, the company estimates that total video hours watched for Q3-2017 will be approximately 370 million hours.
“Much of the increase in Q2 was driven by developing markets, such as India, which has lead OTT viewership growth this year and averaged a monthly growth rate of approximately 10% compared to an 8% growth rate in the US. These trends are consistent with those of Netflix and other OTT services that are seeing larger growth from their international presence where middle-class expansion is taking place at a faster rate than developed markets. We expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future.” said PeerLogix chief strategy officer William Gorfein.
Notable to both market observers and advertisers was the specific television content that was popular over the measurement period. Taking a deeper dive, the Company’s Q2 measurement results showed the very strong popularity of HBO programming with Game of Thrones leading the pack with a staggering 6.8 index rating.
“This is not surprising as the new season of Game of Thrones premiered on 16 July and upticks in viewership are very common before new season premieres, as highlighted in our 17 July report predicting opening weekend box office success of film and television franchises. We’ve seen a halo effect for HBO as this popularity lifted viewership for Big Little Lies and Westworld. Two popular franchises of the network that are notable because they are not currently in season,” Gorfein explains
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
