At Tech City News, we’re always keen to shine a light on those who make up the UK’s thriving technology community. This week, we spoke with Calum Smeaton, CEO and co-founder of AdTech firm TVSquared. Smeaton spoke to us about revolutionising the advertising industry and how “measure and optimise” is his motto for success.
Tech vertical: AdTech
Funding: $12.5m (£9.6m) in three rounds
Staff count: 50
Location: Edinburgh, London, New York, and Los Angeles
Founded: 2012 in Edinburgh
Where did the idea of TVSquared come from?
For 20 years I’ve worked for, and founded, software companies that created data analytics solutions for financial services and retail – two industries that are extremely sophisticated in terms of how they leverage data.
In 2011, I started hearing about the lack of analytics in the TV advertising space. There was no real-time way of knowing crucial details about spot performance. Advertisers determined the success of TV campaigns based on ratings data, received six weeks after spots aired. And with the rise of second-screens, advertisers couldn’t rely on just measuring call-centre activity because it no longer represented real response....