Disney Advertising is expanding its relationship with Edward Norton-backed measurement company EDO and will use their engagement data for streaming

Disney advertising and measurement agency EDO, co-founded and chaired by actor and director Edward Norton, has expanded their relationship into the streaming space.

The companies reached a new agreement to apply engagement data from EDO to Disney’s streaming platforms, starting with Hulu. Last month, Disney+ also added a subscription tier with ads.

The partnership news comes as Disney’s advertising department convenes its annual “Tech and Data Showcase,” which will be held virtually. Norton will appear in a 5-minute video segment during the event to explain his involvement and EDO’s collaboration with Disney.

The companies view the agreement as giving advertisers better insight into how Disney’s premium content impacts consumer engagement and performance.

Unlike some other meter vendor deals recently struck with media companies, the EDO-Disney pact is not a direct attempt to compete with Nielsen, which has come under fire but remains the market leader in audience measurement. EDO’s data is generally considered a supplement to Nielsen’s metrics, but since streaming enables the same decision-making as digital advertising, it’s important to understand ad placement results. Targeting specific consumers is the big opportunity in streaming, as opposed to the traditional “spray and pray” approach in broadcast TV.

EDO, short for Entertainment Data Oracle, was founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Daniel Nadler, a friend of Norton. With the creative community increasingly requiring a range of data to determine compensation and profit sharing, Norton has partnered with the company and is an outspoken advocate of social media.

Norton, along with EDO, said in a press release, “Disney can know and predict the effectiveness of converged TV campaigns.”

Danielle Brown, SVP, Data Enablement and Category Strategy, Disney Advertising, said of the expanded partnership with EDI, “We bring insights from the largest and most knowledgeable audiences around live sports and events to brands to drive the impact of an advertising presence on streaming to show digital multi-screen behavior such as searches and website visits.

Disney used EDO to measure ratings for marquee events and live sports, such as the Academy Awards, American Music Awards, ESPN’s Monday Night Football, and college football playoffs.

“EDO’s outcome-based metrics, combined with Disney’s extensive linear and streaming catalog, provide an alternative signal for outcome-based advertising performance that is both simple and readily available,” said Michael Piner, EVP Advanced Advertising, Mediahub Worldwide. “This collaboration helps lay a solid foundation for the industry-wide adoption of new outcome-based metrics that allow us to understand the convergent performance of TV advertising.”