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State of the Screens

Nielsen Addresses Measurement Gap With ‘Biggest Change In a Decade’

By November 19, 2020No Comments

Big news: Nielsen will start measuring addressable TV ads and combining them into a single measurement with linear.

Nielsen addressable partners include:
1) DirecTV
2) Dish
3) Vizio

Why this matters #1: Addressable TV advertising has been limited to 2 minutes per hour that local distributors (MVPD) are able to sell.  Another limiting factor around national addressable has been measurement since remaining impressions (non-addressable) still need to be sold.  Nielsen is sitting in a strong place to solve this.

Quote from Tracey Scheppach – CEO @ Matter More Media:
“This is probably the most exciting news we’ve heard in the last decade since C3. What Nielsen has done is expanded its panel to include smart TV and set-top box data. Now we can begin to do a few things, fully measure addressability, close the gap on capturing all the viewing data across all the platforms, and start incorporating targeting beyond age and gender.

I believe addressable television was not going to scale without the ability to light up national and linear inventory – that’s what’s been missing. That’s why we were sitting on a fairly large household footprint of around 60 million households but had a very low level of inventory actually enabled all because the MVPDs control it, and they’re two minutes. All in all, it equates to about 3% of linear TV inventory being addressable today.”

Why this matters #2: This is a true win-win that could turn TV advertising into a growth story.

What everyone wants:
1) Consumers – 
Fewer ads.
2) Advertisers – A higher return on ad spend (ROAS) with improved measurement.
3) Networks – A higher share of consumers’ time.  More money from advertisers.

Quote from Scott Brown – General Manager of Nielsen Audience Management @ Nielsen:
“This will be one of those grand scenarios where networks are happy, agencies are happy and ultimately the consumer gets a better experience down the line with ads that are more relevant to them.”

Big question #1: How many households are currently targetable through addressable advertising?

Total TV households in the U.S. (% of total) according to USIM/Mitch Oscar:
1) Addressable – ≈ 68.5M (56%)
2) Non-Addressable – ≈ 52.5M (44%)
3) Total – 121.0M

Big question #2: How big is the addressable TV ad market (excluding CTV) before this deal?

Addressable TV spend by year (YoY growth) according to eMarketer:
1) 
2016 – $760M
2) 
2017 – $970M (↑ 28%)
3) 2018 – $1.5B (↑ 51%)
4) 2019 – $2.0B (↑ 36%)
5) 2020P – $2.1B (↑ 5%)
6) 2021P – $2.9B (↑ 39%)
7) 2022P – $3.6B (↑ 26%)

Video: Nielsen’s Addressable Measurement Addition ‘Biggest In A Decade’: Brown

Podcast: Measure For Addressable Measure

More #1: The Seismic Impact Of 2020 Is Finally Shaking Up TV

More #2: As TV giants deemphasize their legacy businesses, it may be time for them to embrace outsourcing sales

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.