Mar 1, 2018
In this episode of Brandstorm, we welcome Gerardo Guzman, senior vice president of product leadership and Kristen Millsap, account director of client solutions at Nielsen. With so many viewing options for television these days, they join us to discuss what’s new in TV measurement and the company’s efforts to provide accurate measurement of modern TV viewing habits.
Nielsen
A leading global
information and measurement company, Nielsen has provided market
research, insights and data about what people watch, listen to and
buy for over 90 years. They accomplish this through a myriad of
methods, including what’s known as panels, or small segments of
homes in cities that represent the marketplace. By using these
panels, Nielsen can gauge over 120 different characteristics per
household, such as how many cars are owned and how many people live
there. With technology on the rise and viewing habits changing
rapidly, Gerardo explains Nielsen’s three current focuses:
measuring viewership on different devices (such as iPads, phones
and laptops), different services (including Netflix, over-the-air
stations and mobile applications) and how to improve the core video
measurement of what’s being watched on television.
What’s New in 2018
Gerardo tells
us there are big changes ahead this year for Nielsen, not just in
the volume of change but how quickly it will occur. One of the
biggest changes in 2018 is that the paper diaries, where Nielsen
households log their viewing habits, will be retired by the end of
the year. Gerardo says diaries – which were introduced when there
were only three or four networks, and are still used in 140 smaller
TV markets – are no long efficient with hundreds of channels and a
multitude of ways to watch video content, a term Nielsen is using
to refer to all the ways people are getting their TV programming.
Nielsen will now be electronically metering and measuring homes in
all 210 U.S. television markets. There are 70 large markets are
already equipped with electronic monitoring.
The More Data, The Better
If
someone leaves a television on when they leave the room for an
extended period, would that still count as the program being
watched? To an extent, it can with Nielsen’s 2013 acquisition of
radio market research firm Arbitron. The Portable People Meter
(PPM), originally used to pick up AM/FM signals, is worn like a
pager and can note broadcasts if a person leaves the room.
With all the ad-supported mobile apps from networks like CBS and Discovery Channel, Gerardo explains that Nielsen’s technology is embedded for tracking, yet there are different potential advertising situations there. A show may have a different ad schedule than how it originally aired on live television or the ads may be the same as how the show originally aired. The marketplace may have to sort out how to measure viewing before a true solution emerges.
How Specific the Data Can Be
Gerardo informs us that with all the technological improvements
that benefit Nielsen, the information they gather can be incredibly
granular. An example is a local news broadcast, where it can be
known when people are changing the channel, down to the minute.
Even if a weatherperson makes a joke on air, Nielsen can track who
is tuning out when that occurs, which could lead to the station
making a change in the way that anchor delivers the forecast.
The Future of TV and Advertising
The pace of change is going to continue and increase. Nielsen is
currently making investments in technology that we’ll likely see
one to three years from now, because no matter what or how content
is consumed, it still needs to be measured. And while technology
makes it easier for us to watch TV programming on mobile devices –
with the potential of apps taking over cable subscriptions down the
line – Gerardo notes that 20% of the United States is still without
broadband internet service, so the audience for over-the-air
television will not be going away soon.
Contact
Gerardo:
Website: www.nielsen.com
Email: gerardo.guzman@nielsen.com