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Nielsen Adapts To Streaming: Cross-Platform Audience Measurement Coming In 2024

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As viewers continue to migrate to newer video sources, Nielsen is shifting to meet the needs of the advertisers and content providers seeking audience measurement across video platforms. Beginning in fourth quarter 2022, Nielsen will launch the Nielsen ONE platform to provide clients with parallel cross-platform ratings—including live and on-demand television—for individual ads and video content.

The goal is to have the industry change to cross-media metrics by the Fall of 2024. David Kenny, the CEO of Nielsen said, “In 2024 is when we take away the old stuff and just do it in this new way.” Nielsen clients will have the opportunity to preview and evaluate audience data as early as next year.  

For many marketers and content providers cross platform measurement; the ability to follow viewers as they migrate across ad-supported video sources has been an Achilles heel for audience measurement companies. This need became even more critical during the pandemic, with stay-at-home mandates in place, consumer adoption of streaming video platforms accelerated.

Nielsen found between March and August 2020, U.S. adults spent cumulatively 12.2 trillion minutes with digital, 11.1 million minutes with linear TV and 2.8 million minutes with streaming. Consumers have been migrating seamlessly across these platforms and marketers have been seeking the unduplicated exposure of their ads. Nielsen will also continue to provide clients with such legacy metrics as reach and frequency.

Nielsen estimates advertisers spent over $100 billion each year across premium video providers. With consumer adoption growing, in 2021 there will be several new AVOD opportunities from advertisers including the launch of Discovery Plus in January and an ad supported tier for HBO Max planned for the second quarter. In addition, ViacomCBS will rebrand Paramount Plus as part of their restructuring of their streaming video services.

This is the third major announcement Nielsen has made over the past six months as they enhance their audience measurement capabilities to meet the needs of the advertising community. In November, Nielsen announced an initiative to measure addressable advertising adding 55 million devices from smart TVs and set top boxes. Last July, the audience measurement provider announced a new methodology to measure digital media.  

Similar to addressable TV measurement, Nielsen’s announcement of their cross-platform initiative was applauded by their clients; marketers, ad agencies, premium video suppliers and digital media. The utilization of a single measurement with more granular data will enable the advertisers to more accurately gauge the impact on the media selection of their marketing strategy. Content providers will be able to seamlessly sell the audience of their entire video portfolio across all platforms. Nielsen also announced they will create an advisory board involving clients on both the buy and sell side. Additionally, Nielsen is working with trade groups such as The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) to facilitate the transition.

Ben Jankowski, SVP, Global Media for Mastercard MA said, “Cross-media measurement is a generational opportunity and one of the hardest challenges that our industry has had to solve. There are tough technology issues, but also a very real cultural shift that needs to happen that encourages broadcasters, platforms and marketers to work closely together to drive better productivity across the board. With cross-media measurement, it’s even more important to have independent third-parties like Nielsen and auditors like the MRC to help us find one common source of truth in the sea of competing interests and navigate a very confusing landscape.”

With the announcement, Dentsu Media CEO Doug Ray said, “With the rapidly evolving landscape and ongoing shifts in consumer behavior, it is no longer acceptable to take a siloed approach to our clients’ video plans. Cross-media measurement is paramount to maximize reach across platforms with the right frequency.”

Daryl Lee, Global CEO, IPG Mediabrands, says, “Any innovation that moves the needle on capturing true ROI across media, especially across platforms to create consistency in reporting so people aren’t grading their own homework, gets a thumbs up from IPG Mediabrands. We look forward to holding all media to the same standards of performance accountability and transparency as a result of Nielsen’s new product,”

Linda Yaccarino, the Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships at NBCUniversal, noted Saturday Night Live is an NBC program that would benefit from cross platform measurement. The ratings for the venerable late night program on the linear NBC broadcast has been eroding, however when the audience delivery of YouTube, Peacock and other video platforms are included, viewership remains as strong as ever.

To measure cross platform audiences, Nielsen will use a variety of sources including unifying their own panels (TV, mobile and online). In addition, Nielsen will be developing a unified, cloud-based platform that allows easy integration and normalization of big data sets. This includes audience content recognition (ACR) from “smart” TVs, return path data from cable boxes and large digital companies. Among the companies participating are Amazon AMZN , Google/YouTube, Hulu, Roku and Vizio. Nielsen also said more data agreements are in the planning stages. Nielsen will also employ machine learning and algorithms to provide compatibility and consistency across sources.

Using the same audience methodology, Nielsen will be able to measure an individual ad whether it’s on a five-minute video clip or a three-hour football game, regardless of the screen, device or platform and on a second-by-second basis.

If all goes according to plan, the audiences of TV and digital media will be change in four years. “It’s measuring TV more in the way digital is measured,” said Nielsen’s David Kenny. This would involve the use of more audience-based buying for television instead of traditional demographics such as Adults 18 to 49 have been in place for decades. Moreover, the C3 and C7 currency used to negotiate network television ads since 2007 will be shelved.

Nielsen’s announcement will have a ripple effect across the entire advertising and media industry. While there are many hurdles yet to overcome, for many, the announcement, while long overdue, is welcome.

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