Media data provider Nielsen has acquired one of its portfolio companies, vBrand, the Israel-based creator of a data analytics platform for sports media, for an undisclosed amount.
The deal means vBrand and its machine learning technology, which uses image recognition to track the impact and reach of sports sponsorship across television and online media, will be incorporated into Nielsen’s sports division, Nielsen Sports.
The company is a graduate of Nielsen’s incubator, Nielsen Innovate, which the corporate launched in Israel in 2013 with $25m in funding.
Nielsen Funds and Nielsen Innovate had supplied a total of $2m in funding for vBrand, the company told Geektime in November 2016, while Wellborn Ventures was also among vBrand’s investors.
Howard Appelbaum, president of Nielsen Entertainment, said: “Bringing vBrand’s technology into Nielsen Sports’ existing sponsorship valuation process will further expand the scale of programming and events it covers around the world.
“It will also provide timely exposure information, enabling clients to make smarter and faster decisions on sponsorship placement. Nielsen Sports’ brand exposure data and metrics are considered currency in the global sports marketplace, and we are delighted to strengthen that further with this acquisition.”