Placecast launches new product to verify the location data in mobile ad campaigns

Alistair Goodman, CEO of mobile marketing company Placecast, said location data is the “next frontier” when it comes to ad measurement and verification.

For example, Goodman pointed to a study by Factual and the Mobile Marketing Association that found that 40 percent of marketers are concerned about the quality of location data. He said there are a number of different “breaking points” in the process of collecting and using that data — but the end result is that the existing data sets aren’t completely reliable, leading to wasted money when ads aren’t targeted properly.

That’s what Placecast is planning to change with its new Location Verification product — Goodman described it as “the first industry truthset for scoring the accuracy of other data.” In fact, in early testing of the product, Placecast found that 25 percent of impressions were targeted improperly.

The key difference, Goodman said, is the fact that Placecast is relying on data from the mobile carriers, starting with Sprint-owned Pinsight Media. (TechCrunch is owned by Sprint competitor Verizon.)

Why is that data more reliable? Goodman noted that it “wasn’t created for ad tech.” Instead, it’s critical data for carriers to do things like make sure your call isn’t dropped when it’s passed from one cell tower to another.

Location Verification is managed by a new business unit within Placecast to ensure its independence and objectivity, Goodman added. As for privacy, he said the data is “all aggregated and anonymized and subject to all the privacy policies of the carriers themselves.”

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