Havas originally introduced MRPs five years ago, as part of a broader "meaningful media engagement" initiative utilizing a proprietary "media experience" operating system dubbed MX.

While it never disclosed details of the methodology, or explicitly which data suppliers it was working with to power it at that time, it described it as part of a "media matrix" incorporating 20 undisclosed data signals "across connection, context and content."

As part of that, it said its MRPs factor attention, as well as audience size, to determine "optimal television buys."

Over time, Havas has disclosed various other data partner deals powering its approach, including one last year with Adelaide to "build industry-first meaningful ad unit," or MAU.

As part of this morning's announcement, Havas said it will use Samba's proprietary automatic content recognition (ACR) data for both linear and streaming audiences for optimization across clients in the U.S.

"With this release, Samba data is also used for Havas Media's MRP, a unique product that goes beyond traditional TV ratings and takes into account qualitative and quantitative audience factors to provide its video investment team with a more nuanced and holistic view of the video landscape," Havas said in a statement, noting the MRPs also incorporate Nielsen and Comscore data to provide second-by-second, show-level viewership and streaming.

“Through this partnership, we will leverage Samba TV data in our cloud environment for custom model development, personalization and activation in a truly meaningful way for clients in the US. Samba’s granular, real-time data is an ideal complement to Nielsen and Comscore data that we leverage in the MRP," Havas Media Network North America Chief Activation Officer Mike Bregman stated.