Gracenote vs hyScore.io

Index Exchange CEO: Sell-Side Innovation, CTV Transparency, AI Agents

In an interview with ADZINE, Andrew Casale, CEO of Index Exchange, discusses the evolution of programmatic advertising. He argues that sell-side innovation, including modeling and containerization, is increasing complexity but also value. Buyers can now run their own models on the sell-side, democratizing decision-making. Casale addresses the black box concern, noting that while the internal logic of buyer models is opaque, the platform observes their actions. He highlights the shift towards modular infrastructure, with Index enabling data providers and DSPs to run modules on its cloud. Regarding CTV, Casale emphasizes the need for more transparency, noting that while genre data is increasingly available, show and episode data remain limited due to legal and distribution issues. He discusses the evolution of pod serving and the role of agentic advertising, distinguishing between workflow automation and impression-level decisioning, which remains the domain of mathematical models. Casale sees AI agents as useful for automating manual tasks but not as a revolution that will shift power from walled gardens.

• Andrew Casale, CEO of Index Exchange, discussed sell-side innovation, CTV transparency, and AI agents in an interview.
• Index Exchange processes around 20 million requests per second.
• Most of Index Exchange's CTV supply includes genre data; show and episode data are often kept for direct deals.

CTV Show-Level Data Glut Fails to Deliver Optimization Control

While CTV buyers increasingly demand show-level transparency, a new IAB report shows 43% lack confidence in inventory. Despite progress in show-level reporting, true program-level optimization remains elusive. Publishers and exchanges offer data, but limitations persist: incomplete bidstream signals, "unknown" titles, and lack of scaled optimization solutions. Privacy laws like VPPA, combined with household-level data, complicate sharing. Linear TV offers program-level control by design, while CTV faces a gap between reporting and active optimization. Buyers can receive post-campaign reports but can't programmatically target individual shows at scale, except via programmatic guaranteed deals. The industry is working toward compliant, scaled optimization, but meaningful progress is still needed.

• 43% of CTV buyers have little or no confidence in the inventory they buy (IAB).
• Major exchanges do not offer scaled show-level optimization as a standard product.
• One top-five streamer's SSP integration prevents pulling show-level reporting.

Gracenote expands AI product roadmap with sports MCP server, entertainment SLM and agents

The expansion comes as companies adopt general-purpose LLMs to improve viewer experiences, guide content decisions and streamline operations.

CSQI - Content Signal Quality Index für CTV - Oktober 2026

hyScore.io has published its Content Signal Quality Index (CSQI) for Connected TV (CTV) for October 2026, revealing an overall market signal quality score increase of +5.4 to 24.4 out of 100. High-reach publishers led in scalability and reliability, with SevenOne Media achieving a CSQI of 78.2 and Exaring scoring 72.9, both earning the highest Confidence-Grade A. Meanwhile, Funke Digital reached 57.9 and Ad Alliance recorded 26.3, both receiving Confidence-Grade B.

• Overall CTV market signal quality increased by +5.4 points month-over-month to reach a CSQI of 24.4 out of 100 in October 2026.
• SevenOne Media GmbH achieved a CSQI score of 78.2 with Confidence-Grade A.
• Exaring AG improved by +8.0 points month-over-month to a score of 72.9, maintaining Confidence-Grade A.

Streaming-Markt Deutschland 2026: Warum Content wichtiger wird als die Plattform

In an analysis of the German streaming landscape in 2026, hyScore highlights that market fragmentation makes content-level targeting more crucial than platform-level buying. Citing JustWatch Q2 2026 data, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix tie with a 24 percent market share each, while new entrant HBO Max reached 3 percent following its January 2026 launch. To address transparency and context in Connected TV advertising, hyScore positions its TargetVPro solution, which covers over 400,000 film and series titles and 80,000 TV shows for title-level contextual targeting.

• Amazon Prime Video and Netflix share the lead in Germany's SVOD market with 24 percent each in Q2 2026 according to JustWatch data.
• HBO Max reached a 3 percent market share in Q2 2026 after launching in Germany on January 13, 2026.
• Public broadcasters ARD Mediathek and ZDF Mediathek generated a combined total of more than two billion streaming hours in 2025.