AN Edinburgh-based firm that analyses and improves television advertising return has launched into one of the world's biggest markets.

TVSquared, which says it allows its clients to know what is working with audiences and what is not, was founded in 2012 by Calum Smeaton, one of the pioneers of ebusiness in Scotland, and develops products to help firms maximise the returns they make from the wide range of modern TV channels.

The new Tokyo-based offices will provide on-the-ground support for the world’s third-largest advertising market.

TV ad spend is expected to reach more than $15 billion this year in Japan, and continue to increase through the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Mr Smeaton, who is also chief executive of TVSquared, said: "Regardless of industry or geography, there’s a huge demand for real-time TV performance analytics among advertisers and networks.

"The opening of TVSquared offices in Tokyo, Sydney, Munich and Miami reflects that demand.

"Our technology works in every country in the world, so the last 12 months have marked a time of significant growth for us, and we have no plans of slowing down our global expansion.

"Japan is one of our fastest-growing markets and we currently work with dozens of clients in the region spanning industries, including travel and hospitality, financial services and insurance.

"Brands and agencies want to measure and optimize their TV campaigns just like digital initiatives. By providing real-time performance insights, TVSquared clients know exactly what’s working and what’s not by day, time, network, programme, genre, region, creative, even audience segment."

He said: "Leveraging those insights, they can make in-flight changes to improve the performance of on-air campaigns.

"Depending on the type of buy, changes can be made to creatives, dayparts, programs or more.

"We encourage our clients to use the feedback loop TVSquared provides to continuously improve the performance of both on-air and future campaigns."

Mr Smeaton leads a team of more than 80 staff, with 45 based at the firm's headquarters in Edinburgh, 20 in New York and the rest elsewhere around the world.

The firm currently has four employees in Japan and is actively hiring more.

TVSquared makes TV a performance-marketing channel, enabling more than 700 brands, agencies, and networks in 70 countries to measure, optimise, and demonstrate TV campaign return on investment.

Localised for the Japanese market, TVSquared’s ADvantage platform measures the impact of TV spots and provides insights to maximise spend and optimise campaigns for bi-monthly and advanced, six-month buys.

The platform offers multi-country, cross-brand analysis across the sales funnel by prefecture, network and channel and provides buy recommendations.

Also behind the Orbital Technology software business that achieved renown in the 1990s, Mr Smeaton started TVSquared with four other technology specialists after recognising that the emergence of new TV channels, including online, had created demand for new analytical services.

Mr Smeaton said: “Japanese brands are looking at TV for performance vs. simply being a vehicle for reach. In the last year, we’ve worked with dozens of Japanese advertisers to transform TV into a marketing channel that is measurable, optimisable, transparent and dynamic.

"While TV is unrivalled for brand awareness, it has also evolved into a major driver of direct response.”

The firm said TVSquared brings transparency to the entire TV-buying ecosystem in Japan and that brands and agencies understand the real-time performance of campaigns, and use those data-backed insights to identify the most effective TV buys for response.