NBCUniversal taps Currency Council in push for alternative currencies

NBCUniversal continues its push to offer alternative currencies to advertisers, moving away from the old reliance on Nielsen.

Driving the news: NBCU executives held a press conference about One Platform — its unified service for media buying — at 30 Rock on Wednesday, where they announced the creation of The Currency Council.

• Top brands including Marriott Bonvoy, PepsiCo, State Farm, Wayfair, General Motors and T-Mobile have joined the Council and will transact with NBCU's new currencies.

What they're saying: "You have to go from testing and learning to acting and doing in order to actually help us move forward and scale this new currency," says Kelly Abcarian, EVP, measurement and impact, advertising and partnerships at NBCU.

Details: NBCU tapped iSpot as an alternative measurement partner earlier this year.

• As we covered earlier this week, iSpot led a funding round in TVision and is working more closely with the panel-based TV measurement company.
• "We're excited by seeing multiple companies work together because at the end of the day, we don't think there's a single company that can solve it all," Abcarian says. "We think measurement is a team sport."