M+E Connections

By Jeff Berman

Nielsen continues to make strides in its ability to measure TV content regardless of where it’s being viewed and when, but there are still concerns among advertisers when it comes to measuring digital ratings, CEO Mitch Barns said on the company’s July 26 earnings call for its second quarter ended June 30.

Those concerns include the possibility of fraud, such as “non-human traffic,” as well as ad blockers, he said, but added: “Viewability seems to be the most prominent of all the concerns out there and that’s given some pause” to how ad budgets are allocated.

Digital tracking may be precise, but it’s “hard to get both precision and reach” in a digital environment, he said. TV is not yet precise, but it’s “still the best place to get reach,” he said, adding it “gets the job done.”

In the second quarter, Nielsen data showed that the average American adult was watching three minutes less of linear TV than they did a year ago, but that’s still more than 4.5 hours a day, he said. “With the broadest reach, television remains a critical component of brand-building campaigns,” he told analysts.

Growth in Nielsen’s core Watch ratings measurement business segment “continues to be driven by media fragmentation as consumers now have the ability to view content across more channels, devices, platforms and even time periods,” he said. “That means more things to measure, which creates more opportunity for us. Our clients want us to measure all of it,” including on-demand, TV, mobile, over-the-top viewing and texts, he said.

In May, Hulu and Nielsen announced a collaboration enabling Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings measurement of programs being watched on Hulu over the top through devices including video game consoles and Roku set-top boxes.

Seventy percent of Hulu viewing is taking place on connected TVs now, Barns said on the earnings call. In the past, most Hulu viewing was done via PCs, he said. “This serves as yet another example of why our clients need a total audience view of a changing market,” he said.

Nielsen “continued to see strong demand” in the second quarter for subscription video on-demand (SVOD) measurement, he said. With 52% of households now subscribing to an on-demand service, “audience data is more valuable than ever to studios and content owners seeking to fully monetize their programs for this growing audience,” he said. Nielsen is now covering “in the neighborhood of” 9,500 program episodes via SVOD, he said.

Nielsen remains on track to syndicate total audience content ratings for participating clients in August, he also said. The new metrics will help clients better understand and “leverage” the changing ways in which viewers are watching their content – whether they watch it live, record a show on a DVR and watch it a month later, or view it on an over-the-top service, he said.

There was “a lot of skepticism” a year or two ago whether Nielsen would be able to deliver on that total audience measurement, but “we have,” he said. However, he conceded: “Our work isn’t done. We still have a lot more to do.”

Nielsen also remains on track to have digital ad ratings in 25 countries by the end of this year, he said.

Nielsen, meanwhile, “accelerated” investment in its Buy measurement segment’s connected system, he said. The Buy segment measures where consumers are buying products across multiple industries, as well as how they are doing it and why. Clients are “enthusiastic” about it and “want it now,” Barns said. The initial group of clients using that system will be on board by year-end and more will be added next year, he said, without naming any of the clients.

On the set-top box data integration front, Nielsen’s recent deal with Dish Network gave it a national footprint for set-top box measurement, he said. After the Dish and Charter deals, “we’re going to continue to look for additional providers to add into the mix,” he said, adding: “The good news is we don’t need them all…. We’re going to continue to look at them as almost pieces to a puzzle. We need to look for the best configuration” rather than just the largest quantities of data. Dish was “a great start” and Charter was a “fabulous addition,” and “we’re looking to add one or two more in the quarters ahead,” he said.