More Local Measurement Improvements. Nielsen Replacing Local Live Stream Only Data with Live+1

In looking back at the past year, we have seen seismic change in Nielsen’s local market measurement capabilities, stemming from a focus on improvements from increased and varied datasets to sample expansion. Now, starting in July, Nielsen will measure local performance on Live+1, which more closely aligns with consumer behavior viewing habits and national measurement, providing, according to Steve Lanzano, President and Chief Executive Officer, TVB, “more GRPs for stations to sell.”

Overall Local Measurement Improvements

In 2017 alone, Nielsen local measurement evolved to an all-electronic measurement for all 210 DMAs, incorporated return path data into all markets including the 140 still served by paper diaries, expanded Scarborough consumer behavior data into 59 more local markets up from the current 151 DMAs, added Comcast, Dish and AT&T’s DIRECTV and U-Verse set top box data, and added portable people meter data to enable local out-of-home measurement across all sized markets. Nielsen also announced that they would expand their panel by 15,000 TV audience meters in 7,000 homes across the 140 markets currently measured by local TV paper diaries as part of their effort to completely retire the diaries in early 2018.

Live+1 Measurement

Most recently, Nielsen responded to an industry request, as represented by the 4As and the TVB, to replace local live stream only data with Live+1, resulting, as Nielsen noted, in a more comprehensive metric of how consumers are viewing local content, especially as it reflects the daily and time-shifted viewing habits of consumers.

Monthly data will be available starting in July and daily reports (reporting on each Live+27 hour viewing window) will begin with the September reporting period (end of August.) The data will be available on all third-party media buying systems including Mediaocean, Strata, and WideOrbit, to ensure Live-Same Day and Live+1 data streams are reliably delivered and accessible via their respective platforms. Live+1 includes all live viewing plus any delayed viewing conducted within 24 hours of a program’s telecast including DVR playback as well as viewing in the buffer, a form of playback without setting the recording through the DVR.

For Nielsen, Live+1 more closely represents the new viewing habits of today’s households, where consumers are starting programs but then pausing them and finishing them at their own pace and viewing programs on other devices that do not follow traditional program airing schedules.

Industry Reaction

This has been met with a positive response by the industry as a way to better integrate local and national performance results. Kathy Doyle, Executive Vice President, Local Investment, MAGNA Global, noted that this initiative will move the needle for local. “At MAGNA, we have been exploring the possibility of moving Local TV investment to Live +1 currency for some time.  We’re pleased that Nielsen will begin to provide the data stream and appreciate having the ability to utilize a currency that gets closer to national,” she stated.

Where do we go from here? Lanzano doesn’t want to speculate on the next metric. But, “with advancement in technology and media measurement, it could be something very different than current data streams such as total audience measurement across all distribution channels and devices that a specific piece of content runs across. And ATSC 3.0 will provide data and measurement as good as anything else out there,” he concluded.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com