NIELSEN’S RIVALS REACT TO JOINT INDUSTRY COMMITTEE PLAN

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The audience measurement companies looking to offer alternatives to Nielsen were mostly supportive of the move by major programmers to create a joint industry committee that will standardize and design multiple currencies for buying and selling advertising.

Nielsen has long dominated the measurement business and a new group could be a step towards putting providers on a more equal footing.

“We’re very supportive of the newly formed JIC as it represents clients we’re all actively working with to accelerate the adoption of new currencies,“ VideoAmp president Michael Parkes said. “The committee’s goal to increase collaboration is directly aligned with our own mission to increase the value of advertising. We look forward to what this means for the acceleration of new currency implementation at scale across the industry.“

Ashwin Navin, co-founder and CEO of Samba TV, also said the JIC would help the industry deal with more complicated viewer behaviors and new demands from media buyers and advertisers.

“It has long been clear that the U.S. model of a single measurement monopoly would not be able to keep pace with the rapid state of change in viewing behavior we are experiencing today and that it would ultimately fail to provide the kind of diversity and accuracy in measurement that media buyers are demanding,” Navin said.

“This news is a critical step towards a multi-currency world where the industry is empowered to adopt the data and technology it needs to develop advanced and transparent methodologies for measurement versus the legacy black-box tools we have been confined to for decades,“ he continued. “This is a great moment for publishers who will have full transparency into the value of their programming, for advertisers who will be empowered to go beyond legacy models from two generations ago that no longer make sense in today’s diverse audience and programming world, and for consumers who will now have far more advanced tools measuring their attention providing better insights to guide content investments.

“One of the biggest challenges of the legacy approach to measurement today is the one-size-fits-all approach, which may have made sense a half-century ago but frankly makes no sense in today’s incredibly diverse and fragmented media landscape,“ Navin said. “A program that attracts a highly diverse or hard-to-reach audience, for example, but ultimately captures a smaller overall share of attention of a mainstream program, could be canceled under the existing legacy model. By embracing new and innovative methods that go well beyond the simple age and gender metrics that have guided the industry for decades, and empower advertisers and programmers to truly understand who their audiences are and their real value, we will enable creators to continue to think outside the box in the development of incredibly diverse and entertaining content.”

As for Nielsen, it didn’t seem to object to the formation of the JIC, even though it appeared to be designed to reduce its dominance.

“We appreciate working with all the industry bodies vested in the best way to measure the changing audience and providing fidelity and trust between advertisers, agencies, publishers and platforms,“ Nielsen said. “We continue to believe it is critical to have measurement that is transparent, consistent, auditable and independent.”

iSpot.TV, another company leading the charge to provide an alternative to Nielsen, wanted more specifics on the JIC plan.

“While iSpot awaits details on how to participate in the certification process, as careful stewards of second-by-second ad measurement for hundreds of brands and partners to all TV networks, we can already confirm iSpot will invest in deepening its relationships with all parties involved,” the company said in a blog post.

“The coordination from programmers/publishers represents a good opportunity for the buy and sell side to focus on a common language and set of specifications to bring greater transparency and actionability to premium video,“ iSpot continued.

“We believe standards can enable brands to transact on TV and streaming using the metrics they know and trust, while reducing the amount of guesswork and layers of translation that can slow down all sides of the equation.

“With all the fragmentation brought on by streaming and an explosion of consumer choice, brands need a unified view of TV advertising and an ability to invest in a way that suits their goals. That means the ability to measure streaming and traditional TV together — and the ability to toggle between advanced audiences and broad demographics across both linear and streaming. Networks agreeing to coordinate around premium video standards provides a pathway for optimized spending for brands and cuts down on wasted time, money and opportunities during critical campaign cycles,“ iSpot said.

“As we continue our work as the new currency built for brands, we know the transformation to new systems is a process,“ iSpot said. “Hopefully, through a coordinated approach, networks just made your job as a marketer a bit easier.”

Comscore seemed to be more enthusiastic about the JIC announcement.

“Comscore congratulates OpenAP, the VAB and its network programmer partners on this initiative. Comscore has long supported our industry partners in their quest for new television and cross-platform currency, and this initiative will definitely foster a future with greater measurement competition, inclusivity and innovation,“ Comscore said. “We look forward to our continued leadership in cross-platform measurement and supporting all of our client’s business intelligence needs.”

courtesyofnexttv.com

PROGRAMMERS BAND TOGETHER IN JOINT INDUSTRY COMMITTEE TO BATTLE NIELSEN DOMINANCE

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New JIC Will Enable Multiple Currencies by Executing a Measurement Certification and Creating Unified Streaming Viewership Dataset through OpenAP

NEW YORKJan. 9, 2023, OpenAP along with national programmers Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount, TelevisaUnivision, and Warner Bros. Discovery and the VAB today announced the formation of a new Joint Industry Committee (JIC) to enable multiple currencies with the primary focus of creating a measurement certification process to establish the suitability of emerging cross-platform measurement solutions in advance of the 2024 upfront.

The JIC has already begun to utilize the collective efforts and progress being made across its members to develop measurement certification standards, which will be formalized and officially announced on March 1st. On April 25, 2023, the JIC will host an event to share a first look at progress being made toward accelerating the multi-currency future and upfront readiness of measurement partners.

In the coming months, the JIC intends to expand membership to other qualified premium video programmers. The JIC will also elicit active participation from advertising agencies and qualified trade bodies to advance the multi-currency future in this collaborative forum.

Starting in January 2023 with these launch partners, the JIC will fund key data initiatives to accelerate measurement innovation. The newly-launched JIC will:

  1. Establish and maintain a measurement certification process in partnership with the VAB that will be housed inside of the JIC for third-party measurement vendors conducting cross-platform premium video currency services that will be operational by Broadcast Year 2024.
  2. Create a programmer data set to enable third-party measurement vendors by harmonizing streaming viewership data brought together by OpenAP infrastructure.
  3. Engage a third-party audit firm to verify the accuracy of the streaming viewership dataset in order to maintain measurement independence and neutrality.
  4. Collaborate with the VAB and ANA to accelerate progress made to measurement calibration by both parties, as well as with other key Industry Trade Bodies including the 4A’s, IAB, ARF and more.

“The sustainability of the premium video advertising model depends on an ecosystem for measurement that is transparent, independent, inclusive, and accurately reflects the way all people consume premium video content today – across multiple screens, connections, and devices. By coming together to establish this JIC, we can collaborate and accelerate the efforts to implement a new multi-currency future that fosters more competition, inclusivity and innovation and will ultimately better serve advertisers, agencies and consumers,” said Jeff Shell, CEO of NBCUniversal; Bob Bakish, CEO of Paramount; Wade Davis, CEO of TelevisaUnivision; and David Zaslav, President and CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery in a joint statement.

 

Source: prnewswire.com

HOROWITZ: GEN Z WATCHING BOTH PROFESSIONAL TV, NON-TV CONTENT

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Older Gen Zers watch more professional TV content than their younger counterparts

Gen Z viewers split their viewing time evenly between long-form and short-form content, with the older portion of of the demo spending more time watching traditional TV programming, according to a new study by Horowitz Research.

The Focus Generation Next survey of 800 Gen Zers 13-24 years of age reports that while the group as a whole splits viewing time rather evenly between professional TV content from networks and streaming services and non-TV content such as user-generated videos, there are different viewing patterns within the demo.

The report found that 18-24 year olds spend more than half of their viewing time (52%) watching content from networks and streamers such as Netflix and Disney Plus compared to 47% of 13-17 year olds, who spend more of their time viewing non-TV content.

Older Gen Zers are more likely to watch content from a wider variety of platforms – including subscription streaming services and virtual MVPDs like Hulu TV and Sling TV – than younger Gen Zers, who are more dependent on their parents to access cable or streaming services, said the survey.

Overall, Netflix, Disney Plus and Hulu are the most watched services for Gen Z viewers, according to the survey.

While short-form video is the preferred choice for younger Gen Zers now, as they grow older they will most likely gravitate to traditional TV content for their viewing choices, according to Horowitz.

“We are often asked how media brands can engage with Gen Zers who seem to be so immersed in short-form content. I like to remind them that this generation is not the first cohort of young people to be engaged in short-form content,” said Horowitz Research chief revenue officer and insights and strategy lead Adriana Waterston. “Engagement with short form does not totally cannibalize long-form viewing. Young people today are still watching professionally produced TV content, just less of it compared even to older audiences within their generational cohort. As younger people’s lifestyles change as they enter new life stages and as they develop different interests, deeper engagement with long-form content across a range of genres will follow.”

 

Courtesyofnexttv.com