Were we mistaken about the future of Nielsen alternatives to TV ad currency?
Nielsen’s temporary loss of accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC) in 2021 provided a major opportunity for the incumbent’s challengers. Since Nielsen was chastised for undercounting TV viewers during the pandemic, these competitors have been battling to persuade buyers and sellers alike to adopt alternatives.
However, some industry insiders claim that alternative currencies were never intended to displace Nielsen. (Which may be surprising to the corporations attempting to recruit its clients.)
Earlier this week, media veteran Edward Papazian wrote on LinkedIn that, unlike Nielsen, alternative currencies were “never intended as a standard to be used by all buyers and sellers” in every TV ad transaction.
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“They are being used – selectively – by some sellers as add-on metrics, in addition to the standard Nielsen ratings,” explained Papazian, president of Media Dynamics, Inc., a publisher/consultancy he started in 1982.
His reply came in response to a LinkedIn post that included AdExchanger’s recent coverage on iSpot’s certification as a national currency from a joint industry group supported by broadcasters and agencies.
Nielsen reigns dominant.
But, haven’t programmers been vocally advocating for independence from Nielsen’s measurement monopoly for years?
They have, but alternative currencies do not appear to be taking off yet.
And Papazian is not the only industry leader emphasizing this issue.
Most publishers and agencies have relied on Nielsen panels, especially during the upfront talks this summer, because Nielsen is known. Nielsen’s panel data has supported TV ad purchases for decades.
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Buyers also lack confidence in other video currencies’ capacity to appropriately compare traditional and streaming viewership. One significant reason is that the digital walled gardens that capture so much viewing time – YouTube, Prime Video, and Netflix – do not share viewership information.
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In addition, as Papazian points out in his statement, Nielsen is gradually adopting new data sets in order to remain competitive with its competitors. Nielsen’s measurement solution combines panel data with viewing data obtained from TV publishers and distributors such as Comcast, Roku, and Vizio, he says. This combined currency offering is part of Nielsen ONE, a new cross-platform product that replaces outdated panels.
According to an April update, the combined service will be Nielsen’s preferred currency beginning next month, replacing the panel-only option. (The merged service is already on the market, but Nielsen’s recommended currency is still panel-only.)
And, despite the apparent fight between buyers and sellers over currency, “there is no struggle,” Papazian claims. “It’s all been decided.”
Papazian’s statement contradicts the scores of AdExchanger headlines announcing the inevitable adoption of alternative currencies. However, his point may more accurately represent reality: Nielsen will always play an important role in TV ad buying.
The future of alternative currencies
This is not to argue that other video currencies will become obsolete.
Newer currencies have established reputations for specialties that panel data alone cannot achieve. Comscore, for example, has a strong local presence, whereas VideoAmp has advanced audiences and iSpot touts cross-screen attribution and demos.
This is why buyers and sellers select alternative currencies as Nielsen add-ons.
Video currencies provide varying numbers depending on the data and methodology used. That variation explains why buyers and sellers can – and do – deal with many currencies at the same time in order to evaluate outcomes and select the measurement provider that seems most aligned with certain campaign goals or KPIs. Buyers have an incentive to spend more money on currencies that appear to produce the best results.
For example, if a buyer examines VideoAmp and Nielsen data for similar campaigns and discovers that VideoAmp has better impression counts for advanced audiences, the buyer may decide to spend a larger amount of their advertising budget with VideoAmp.
But Nielsen is not going anywhere.
In other words, for the time being, alternative currencies will most likely continue as add-ons to support certain campaign goals.
What I’m thinking is, can alternative currencies ever become a standard, or are they doomed to be TV measuring sidekicks?
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