In the parlance of media calendars, this is the calm after the storm. May was a flurry of glitzy presentations and parties (well, save for the killjoys at Paramount) that were seen as necessary expenses to chase accolades, advocates and advertisers. June is when the parties retreat to their corners, ostensibly run numbers, scenarios and engage in back-and-forth negotiations late into the evening all in the quest of satisfying as many of their respective powers that be in time to assure that those family vacations and Hamptons rentals don’t get impacted by anything other than Mother Nature.
So it does seem to make sense that after all of the noise and saber rattling that buyers and sellers engage in leading up to FYCs, international screenings and especially upfronts that there’s only so much bandwidth and energy left when the real work commences. That’s not only true of the participants, that’s even truer of those that cover it. Because as anyone who has ever been involved in those actual conversations, electronic and otherwise, it’s about as sexy as dirty laundry. 
Fortunately, for those who might actually have some skin in this game directly or indirectly there are a handful of insiders who do have their pulse on what is going on and why. And yesterday thanks to the largesse of someone who fits that definition we were blessed with learning about one such brutally honest observer. His name is Pesach Lattin, and he authors a newsletter known as ADOTAT. His Linked In thumbnail is filled with daunting and downright egotistical hyerbole:
35 years in the industry | Ex-CEO, ex-hacker, ex-cyber forensics | Unfortunately well-informed | Former NY Electronic Crimes Task Force | Secret Service
And witness how he man-splains his role as a consultant to one of his longer-tenured clients:
I’m the one everyone—yes, even the top experts—turns to when they need to understand the complex dance between media, adtech, and marketing. With a unique ability to see how all these pieces fit together, I help companies, agencies, and brands create cohesive, powerful strategies that don’t just follow trends but set them. I make sure they’re not just in the game but dominating it.
So when he decided to tackle head-on the bullsh-t-infused world of media measurement as he did in a newsletter he published in advance of the 2026 upfronts one would hope that he would take the kind of no holds-barred approach that so few otherwise choose to. Here’s how he opened up on a topic and people I’ve known all too well:
The trade press declared Nielsen dead. The challengers — VideoAmp, Comscore, iSpot — were coming. The multi-currency future was inevitable. That was the narrative. Here’s what actually happened.
A few weeks before VideoAmp quietly showed her the door, their CMO Jenny Wall was on a podcast painting a rosy picture. The company was “almost 100%” transitioned to pure measurement, she said. They had deals with “every single publisher but one” and “every single holding company.” Multi-year
agreements with Paramount, Netflix, Amazon, NBCU. David was about to slay Goliath. Then, a few months later, Peter Liguori, VideoAmp’s Executive Chairman turned CEO, stood on stage at the CIMM Summit and told the audience: “You all spend $4 billion roughly on measurement services… and
for VideoAmp, we represent less than 1% of that TAM, so we’re probably doing something wrong.” Less than 1%. After a decade. After $600 million in funding. After all those upfront presentations about the multi-currency future.
That’s the kind of honesty that usually gets you fired. And, well. Jenny Wall was gone within months. Position not being refilled. Peter stepped down as CEO shortly after. Tony Fagan is their third CEO in two years. If your company is cycling through leaders faster than most people change their Netflix passwords, you might have a problem.
And then he launched into what would otherwise seem like a spirited and atypically impassioned defense of a company that I–like many others–have been way too quick to bash:
While the trade press was writing Nielsen’s obituary, something interesting happened: Nielsen fixed their problems.Big Data + Panel is now MRC accredited. The first hybrid panel/big-data product with person-level estimates to get that stamp. They’re processing over 100 terabytes of data daily. 45 million households, 75 million devices, 42,000+ panel homes with 100,000+ people. Every major sports league signed. Every agency holding company signed. Paramount renewed after publicly flirting with alternatives. Warner Bros. renewed without drama. The NFL praised Big Data + Panel after a brief summer spat that turned out to be a “roadmap timing disagreement.” Translation: they got over it.
They’re not dying. They’re evolving. And their infrastructure moat — the planning tools, the agency integrations, the historical baselines — is deeper than anyone wanted to admit. Turns out when you’ve been the default for 70 years, that counts for something.
He then followed that up with a take that at least I was unaware of about a company that I personally helped make some headway:
Now let’s talk about iSpot, because what’s happening there is worse than you think and nobody in the trade press seems to care. On paper, it’s fine. iSpot got embedded in The Trade Desk as default incrementality measurement. They won an $18.3 million lawsuit against EDO. They co-published research with GroupM on CTV waste. Real accomplishments. But still no MRC accreditation. Their Super Bowl numbers have consistently diverged from Nielsen’s by millions of viewers, and nobody can explain why. And their Glassdoor reviews include gems like “CEO refuses to admit he’s unable to lead” and one comparing leadership to “The Devil Wears Prada multiplied by 10.”
You can’t make this stuff up. Actually you can, but you don’t need to. Now here’s the scoop: iSpot has been quietly bleeding out.. Based on publicly available information, including what CEO Sean Muller stated under oath in court, iSpot had roughly 400 employees prior to these cuts. That’s a quarter of the company. Gone. With zero coverage.
And then, for the ADD-afflicted among us, he provided a TL; DR recap of a few more familiar players:
Measurement vendors love marketing because marketing doesn’t require math. Ask them how a pixel, a box, and a Wi-Fi router magically become a 34-year-old dad watching football and you’ll watch the room temperature drop. Panels know people but are tiny. Big data knows devices but not humans. So everyone duct-tapes the two together, then issues press releases claiming precision. Meanwhile 10% of CTV ads are serenading powered-off TVs and somebody’s still billing billions against it.
Nielsen keeps winning not because it’s flawless, but because it’s plumbing. Agencies built their planning,uarantees, and careers on it, and nobody volunteers for open-heart surgery on a revenue system. Comscore survives by staying useful, EDO sidesteps the fight by measuring outcomes, and VideoAmp
tried to be Switzerland while also running a casino. The “measurement war” isn’t a war, it’s a family argument over who counts better while the house wiring decides who actually gets paid.
He continued to spill a lot more tea, but since he boldly lists his consulting rate at $500/hour he’s clearly not doing all of this as a mitzvah. He may indeed be a practicing rabbi, but he’s much of a capitalist and opportunist as anyone who’s already paying that freight. Or should.
So I’ll merely say if you’re in a position to benefit from his newsletter–or if you’re among the truly blessed that still remain in a high enough position and have a sufficient budget for his services–you should most definitely do so. As someone who champions the concept of rigorous honesty and defending to the death someone’s right to offer an informed and nuanced opinion, I’m definitely become a convert. He might even help you make the right call quicker and get that much closer to your summer vacation.
Until next time…