Change often comes with risk as well as rewards. DRMetrix is changing some of its backend automated-content-recognition (ACR) technology and we are expecting some initial challenges but then ultimately huge rewards for our clients. We are very excited about the future.
Back in February of 2015, I blogged about the launch of our original ACR solution and the industry partnership that we had created. Since that time, our original ACR vendor/partner has been sold three times. As a result, DRMetrix began a journey last year to create our own next generation ACR technology.
Like all technologies, ACR is much more advanced today than it was back in 2012-2015 which is the period in which our original ACR solution was developed, and we have been routinely improving since then. In recent years, there have been more than routine improvements available. We have wanted to take advantage of newer ACR capabilities as well as add additional features such as state-of-the-art logo detection. Given the various changes in the ownership of our ACR vendor/partner, and shifting priorities, the situation with our original ACR provider became untenable and further drove our decision to invest in our own ACR solution.
The new solution we are investing in has been designed with various product improvements in mind to further service our clientele. Our transition to this new technology will be completed by the end of this month (June). During our initial month of full operation under the new systems (July), we are expecting temporarily slower than normal reporting of airings. We humbly ask for patience and understanding as we work through this very complicated technical transition. Instead of reporting airings within 30-40 minutes, please be aware that reporting delays of up to 2-3 hours from real time may be experienced. In the short term, we have focused our development team on other priorities knowing that the speed of reporting can be resolved in the coming weeks.
We are also working to enhance the detection of new direct-to-consumer (DTC) creative. For example, we will be able to key in on mobile creatives by recognizing app store logos. That said, early in the transition, the speed of new creative detection and registration is expected to be slower than normal as we transition and bring these new systems online. We anticipate enhancements and speed to increase during transition month of July.
We thank all of our valued clients who are on this journey with us and we are looking forward to delivering many new system enhancements in the coming months as a result of these changes. This will include a significant expansion of new networks and other exciting developments.
Warmest Regards,
Joseph Gray
CEO
DRMetrix