Nielsen’s measurement crisis intensifies, advertisers seek alternative
By Zion Rufus
Data analytics giant Nielsen once again finds itself under intense heat as some of the world’s biggest networks, advertisers, and media buying agencies begin to seek out alternative channels for their audience measurement solutions and as well develop new means of tracking the reach of advertising among linear and digital viewers.
ViacomCBS is working with Dentsu to test VideoAmp’s cross-platform measurement in the first quarter of 2022; NBCUniversal announced it had selected iSpot.TV—a company that measures TV ad impressions and performance using data from smart TVs, set-top boxes, and more—as a preferred alternative measurement partner; Publicis Media will begin testing iSpot’s measurement almost immediately, during both the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LVI. Meanwhile, WarnerMedia announced that three measurement companies—iSpot, Comscore, and VideoAmp—would begin providing audience reach and frequency measurement during a six-month test period beginning at the end of January.
The problem
For over five decades, big media companies have relied heavily on Nielsen’s audience measurement data. Nielsen, a global leader in audience insight and market measurement, has long served as the industry standard for media advertising.
Sadly, the media measurement company which has been under fire for months recently revealed to TV networks that it had been undercounting their out-of-home audiences for national TV programming since September 2020.
Blaming the error on a software issue, Nielsen vowed to release accurate estimates in February 2022. The company shared with Adweek that while there was no significant impact to most telecasts and local television, the recently identified error which caused an understatement of reported out-of-home audiences affected live sporting events that tended to yield larger out-of-home audiences.
However, the revelation didn’t sit well with advertisers who relied upon the media giant for facts and figures.
Sean Cunningham, president and CEO, Video Advertising Bureau said: “Today’s announcement by Nielsen of more systematic errors that have further undercounted TV ratings for the last 16 months is unfathomable, both for Nielsen and the buyers and sellers that use Nielsen data as trading currency. While the VAB and our Measurement Innovation Task Force have been looking to build back confidence in Nielsen’s core measurement capabilities, the timing of this latest and stunning omission of OOH viewership not being counted across the growing broadband only home universe coincides with our recent discovery of significant defects in Nielsen’s overall plans to include broadband only homes in early 2022 for local TV.”
It should be recalled that in 2021, the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) had formally requested the revocation of Nielsen’s Media Ratings Council accreditation for national TV service due to multiple, major and persistent violations.
VAB continued: “Given the unprecedented scale of Nielsen’s 2021 undercounting and the depths of discovered defects in their core competency on TV measurement, we are greatly concerned that Nielsen One is being built atop a broken and defective measurement and currency foundation.”
In 2021, VAB claimed Nielsen’s samples were not consistent with pre-Covid standards and therefore was negatively affecting TV viewership.
The Video Advertising Bureau, which has A+E Networks, Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS as members revealed that the Bureau was fiercely advocating for transparency and accuracy on behalf of its members, as well as marketers who relied upon fair and accurate reporting to base their buying strategies.
VAB said in a release: “To maintain the integrity of the currency used to transaction billions of dollars of ad revenue, VAB has been actively monitoring Nielsen’s sample since we discovered systemic issues during Covid. Our initial investigation led to an independent MRC audit, revealing significant under-reporting of viewership.” However in response to the move, Nielsen proactively initiated an accreditation hiatus process for its National TV ratings service with the Media Rating Council (MRC).
To deepen its position, the measurement firm announced it will reveal a major step toward Nielsen ONE, its single cross-platform measurement solution, showcasing its newest advancement, Nielsen ONE Alpha deduplicated ad measurement. Alpha is the first iteration of Nielsen ONE which will continue to evolve with new feature additions, enhancements, and model improvements leading up to the launch of Nielsen ONE in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Disney and MAGNA will join several agencies, advertisers and publishers as Nielsen ONE Alpha participants from both the buying and selling sides of the industry.
According to Nielsen, Nielsen ONE Alpha will be specific to ad campaigns, unveiling the first cross-platform measurement system of its kind that offers both comparability and audience deduplication across all screens (linear TV, connected TV, computer and mobile). Media buyers and sellers will for the first time have the most holistic view of their ads across consumer delivery systems and platforms in a harmonized and holistic manner—crucial as the linear and digital landscapes continue to rapidly converge. The deduplicated ad measurement metrics account for age and gender information.
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