Welcome to episode no. 2 of AdExchanger Talks, a new podcast on data-driven marketing. Let us know if you like it, and please subscribe via your preferred channel.
Use the player below to listen now.
What are the trends in video consumption across traditional TV and digital channels? Ask Lynda Clarizio, Nielsen’s President of US Media, and she’ll tell you, “It’s complicated.”
Linear TV watching behavior, defined by Nielsen as viewership within 7 days of a video hitting a television screen, has been on the decline. But there’s a big surge in web video, OTT streaming and subscription video-on-demand consumption. These shifting sands might at first seem to threaten Nielsen, but in fact the opposite may be true.
“We have been the referee in linear television for years,” Clarizio says in the latest episode of AdExchanger Talks. “People have traded against our currency, and now we are evolving those metrics for a bigger playing field.”
That evolution involves a number of important changes.
Nielsen has augmented its traditional TV panel with other modes of measurement, including what it calls “census data sets” which it uses to calibrate its panel. It has embraced a partner strategy, for instance by letting customers use their preferred viewability vendors. And it now supports APIs for both linear TV and digital measurement.
As for ad tech, an industry Clarizio briefly worked in during a stint at AppNexus, she says the industry is seeing a “rationalization” as a large number of indie companies adjust to the reality of a marketplace dominated by two large companies. But she thinks the rapid pace of change will mitigate the risk of monopolistic behavior from Google and Facebook.
“It used to be there were only three or four platforms to advertise on,” Clarizio said. “Then cable came… digital came, and then programmatic came. You see this ebb and flow, but I’m confident there will be sufficient competition in the industry.”
This episode of AdExchanger Talks is sponsored by Google AdSense.
