Although it sounds more like science fiction, we are now in
a world where consumers can expand time. Well, at least in terms of overall hours
of media usage. With more media platforms and only so many hours in a day, “consumers
are spending more time overall on media,” explained Karthik Rao, Chief Product
and Technology Officer, Nielsen
Global Media.
His keynote at the recent Data Conference at TV Week 2019 focused
on the expansion of media options, how it impacts viewer behavior and Nielsen’s
role in ensuring that media usage is measured, explained and acted upon correctly.
Consumer Media Usage is Growing Rapidly
Twenty-six
years ago in 2003, U.S. adults spent an overall 50 hours a week on media – a combination
of Radio, Live TV and TV Connected Devices and Digital Devices. Ten years later, in 2013, it increased +18% to
59 hours and, just six years later in 2019, it ballooned +38% to 82 hours per
week. The daily time spent from 2018 to 2019 grew +13% from 10:24 hours per day
to 11:45 per day, combining nine different platforms. Does anyone ever sleep
anymore?
Of course, with
only so much time in a day, this impressive growth in usage means more multi-tasking
is taking place as well as, Rao noted that we now have the ability to “access
media when and where we might not have been able to before.” Easy access to
content on, for example, a smartphone, enables someone to fill in the gaps of
waiting time by engaging in content.
Enrich, Understand and Respect the Consumer
“Consumers
are willing to expand time,” Rao noted, “because there are more choices.” For Nielsen, that means that, “we have to
fundamentally enrich, understand and respect the consumer experiences, with the
biggest word being respect.” To Rao, this means not having the viewer, “going
to every single platform and getting same damn ad over and over. It is
disrespectful.” He added, “People can’t handle that many ads. They tune out.”
For Nielsen, there are five monetization opportunities for
media spend including Tradition Reach Advertising through Linear, Targeted
Advertising with Audience Buys, No Advertising such as with SVOD, Branded
Integration such as Product Placement and Trade Marketing which hit $1 trillion
globally. Measurement of these options must include the correct coverage, inclusion
of all necessary data points and diversity representation of audience in order
to measure total audience. And it must cover all platforms. “We look for next
way that time can expand,” he stated. Nielsen’s role “is to organize all of
that,” as well as understand the impact of reach and frequency, the next relevant
metrics and track the consumer experience with multi-touch attribution to, “create
a touch point and a metric between touch points.” The goal is simple - Measure
total audience, Measure outcomes and Expand globally.
The Changing Nature of Media Measurement
In a
business that has historically sold on GRPs based on age and gender, the move
to impressions-based selling is a notable change. Nielsen, according to Rao,
supports this move towards impressions. “Anything that helps seller and buyer
make sense of their transactions,” he explained. But, “Consumer experiences are
about people and impressions are not people. We need to recognize this. We want
to raise the bar on what we are trying to solve and when you do, the role of
each data point changes and you use it differently. Change is a good thing and
we want to be a part of it,” he concluded.
Managing the
torrent of data is as much of an art as a science. For Rao it has to begin with
following the money. “Use it as roadmap,” he advised, “Things become clearer.
Money begins with the advertisers.” From there, ask yourself, “What is the
persona? What is the advertiser or brand trying to solve for?” In fact, he
recommended that we focus on the roles that different dataset play in either
depth or breath. “It is less about tech,” he noted, “What is the problem you
are trying to solve? And what is the value of the data?”
As far as C3
is concerned, “it worked really well for a long time but it is a blunt metric. It
doesn’t tell you what happened within any commercial pod. So it’s not great for
engagement.” But when you get down to
the individual ad as you can do in digital, one gets closer to engagement.
Rao defended
the use of panels. “Our conviction on the role of the panel is stronger now,”
he said, “because of fragmentation. You have to understand the differences in
platforms. If don’t get it right you can’t solve big data problems. So a truth
set is most important. One media truth is the panel. We use it to ideate every
piece of data.” Set top box, he admitted, can be used to enhance the panel
because it plays into the dynamic of small and big data synergies. “Small data
enriches big data. Big data expands small data. Don’t confuse relationship,” he
advised.
In short, the
media ecosystem needs to, “move beyond a campaign-based view of the world.” In
a world of the small and big glass screens, “the business model is not the
same. But we need some common way to bring them together. That is how TV works,”
he concluded, “It’s always on.” Maybe that is why we consumers don’t sleep
anymore.
This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
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