# Yan Liu
> CEO and Co-Founder, TVision Insights at tvision insights
- Profile type: Person
- Profile status: baseline
- Last updated: 2026-05-03T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/yan-liu/
- Also known as: Yanfeng Liu, Yanfeng Yan Liu
## Summary
Yan Liu is the CEO and Co-Founder of TVision Insights, the Boston-based attention-measurement firm he started while earning his MBA at MIT in 2014. TVision agreed to be acquired by Viant Technology in a $40M deal announced April 15, 2026 and expected to close in Q2 2026.

## Profile facts

- Current title: CEO and Co-Founder, TVision Insights
- Current company: tvision insights (https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/tvision-insights/)


## Career trajectory

- 2014-01-01 — Co-Founder and CEO at tvision-insights. Co-founded TVision Insights in Boston while pursuing his MBA at MIT Sloan; team won third prize at the 2014 MIT $100K Pitch Competition.
- 2015-06-01 — MBA, MIT Sloan School of Management. Completed MBA at MIT (SM '15); used Martin Trust Center resources to build the founding TVision team.
- 2023-01-24 — Announced global Adelaide partnership at tvision-insights. TVision and Adelaide announced a global partnership integrating TVision's linear and CTV attention data into Adelaide's omnichannel AU metric and pre-bid CTV segments.
- 2022-11-15 — Closed $16M strategic investment led by iSpot.tv at tvision-insights. TVision raised $16M led by iSpot.tv (with continued participation from SIG Capital, Accomplice, and Golden Ventures), bringing total funds raised to over $58M; iSpot CEO Sean Muller joined the TVision board.
- 2026-04-15 — Agreed to sell TVision to Viant Technology at tvision-insights. Viant Technology (NASDAQ: DSP) entered a definitive agreement to acquire TVision for $40M ($22.5M cash + $17.5M Viant Class A stock). Deal expected to close Q2 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.

_This page uses only public-professional information (roles, public statements, media appearances). No private or personal contact information is published here._

## Key facts

- Co-founded TVision Insights in 2014 in Boston while earning his MBA at MIT Sloan; the founding team won third prize at the MIT $100K Pitch Competition that year. — MIT Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship: https://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/entrepreneurs-journey-yan-liu/
- Holds an MBA from MIT Sloan and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology; previously founded Yo-ren, a digital marketing agency in China, and worked as a consultant at McKinsey in Tokyo. — TVision Insights — Meet Our People: https://www.tvisioninsights.com/our-people
- Led TVision through a $16M strategic investment round in November 2022 anchored by iSpot.tv, lifting total funds raised to over $58M and adding iSpot CEO Sean Muller to TVision's board. — GlobeNewswire (TVision press release): https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/11/15/2555963/0/en/TVision-Secures-16mm-Investment-Round-Led-by-iSpot-in-Support-of-Expanding-Cross-Platform-TV-Currencies.html
- Agreed on April 15, 2026 to sell TVision to Viant Technology for $40M ($22.5M cash + $17.5M Viant Class A stock); the transaction is expected to close in Q2 2026 subject to customary closing conditions and has not yet closed. — Viant Technology (press release): https://www.viantinc.com/company/news/press-releases/viant-announces-agreement-to-acquire-tvision-strengthening-its-ai-powered-programmatic-platform/


## Related

- tvision insights (CEO and Co-Founder) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/tvision-insights/
- viant technology (Pending acquirer (announced April 15, 2026)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/viant-technology/


## External coverage

- TVision Insights: Meet Our People — TVision Team (https://www.tvisioninsights.com/our-people)
- MIT Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship: The Entrepreneur's Journey: Yan Liu (https://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/entrepreneurs-journey-yan-liu/)
- 2026-04-15 — Viant Technology: Viant Announces Agreement to Acquire TVision Strengthening Its AI-Powered Programmatic Platform (https://www.viantinc.com/company/news/press-releases/viant-announces-agreement-to-acquire-tvision-strengthening-its-ai-powered-programmatic-platform/)
- 2023-01-24 — TVision Insights: Global Partnership Between Adelaide and TVision Furthers Commitment to Omnichannel Attention Measurement (https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/press-release-tvision-adelaide-partner)
- 2022-11-15 — AdExchanger: iSpot Leads $16M VC Round In Panel Provider TVision To Measure Co-Viewing (https://www.adexchanger.com/digital-tv/ispot-leads-16m-vc-round-in-panel-provider-tvision-to-measure-co-viewing/)

## Profile
Yan Liu has run TVision Insights since co-founding it in 2014 while at MIT Sloan, building the company into the attention-measurement specialist most CTV buyers and sellers benchmark against — a passive in-home panel paired with computer vision that captures second-by-second eyes-on-screen viewing across linear and streaming. Under his tenure, TVision raised more than $58M (including a $16M iSpot.tv-led round in November 2022) and embedded its panel data into omnichannel measurement products from Adelaide and others.

The next chapter is a sale. On April 15, 2026, Viant Technology announced a definitive agreement to acquire TVision for $40M, expected to close in Q2 2026. The deal has not yet closed; Liu's post-close role and any executive transition at TVision have not been disclosed.
## Coverage on The State of Streaming
- [Cognition Is the New Currency Layer for CTV Ads](https://thestateofstreaming.com/measurement-data/2026/05/cognition-attention-currency-ctv-ads/) — 2026-05-03
- [The State of Streaming Has a Cognition Gap That's Already Repricing CTV Ads](https://thestateofstreaming.com/measurement-data/2026/05/state-of-streaming-cognition-gap-conviva-ads/) — 2026-05-03
- [Viant Pulls TVision Inside the DSP, Collapsing the Neutral Attention Layer](https://thestateofstreaming.com/measurement-data/2026/04/viant-tvision-attention-currency-acquisition/) — 2026-04-26

## Tags

- attention-measurement
- ctv
- measurement
- founders
- tvision
- viant

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