Viacom partners with Canvs to better interpret emotional reactions to shows on social media
Canvs is a small New York-based emotion technology company which works to measure TV viewers' responses to shows. Viacom is a major media conglomerate, with operations in over 160 countries and with revenues last year of nearly $14 billion; the owner of media heavyweights like MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Pictures.
The two companies are now teaming up in an effort to better decode complex millennial language.
The advancement and development of marketing measurement tools has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. That development is part of larger growth in the more general analytical industry, which has become more extensive, accurate, and specific in just about every field.
Canvs exemplifies that change. Instead of simply tracking more general feelings, like “positive-negative-neutral,” the company tracks an astonishing 56 unique emotions. Recently, it closed a $5.6 million Series A funding round led by a number of investors, including KEC Ventures and Rubicon Venture Capital.
Now, it will take that expertise and work with Viacom Velocity, Viacom’s in-house marketing and creative content team, which works closely with the company’s major advertising partners. Velocity uses its own proprietary tool, Echo 2.0, which measures effectiveness and virality in marketing marketing campaigns. This collaboration will integrate Canvs’ emotional analysis with Echo 2.0, in order to “deliver deeper insights to marketing partners.”
A major element of the partnership will focus on millennials, and Canvs’ has an expansive database which focuses in on millennial language, deciphering words like “Bae” and “on fleek.” Velocity will be able to integrate that technology to more effectively track social media conversations for clients. “Layering Canvs' analytics into Echo 2.0 deepens the insights we provide our clients like no one else can in the industry,” explained Lydia Daly, Vice President of Viacom Velocity, adding that “finding the most innovative ways to connect creativity and data science is what keeps us - and our clients - ahead.”
For years, Viacom has been a leader in content. And it has had an uncanny ability to attract young viewers in a variety of fields. It helped grow “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” and created superstars out of a small group spending a summer on the Jersey Shore. Now, it is expanding its reach. As Canvs CEO Jared Feldman explained, “Viacom has helped define culture for decades, and we are honored to help its advertisers understand its audiences with a level of nuance and speed that has not been previously possible.”
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