Panels, Big Data and the Nielsen US announcement

Following accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC), Nielsen recently announced that its US Big Data + Panel product would be the currency at this year’s upfront market. This provoked a flurry of comment, some of which suggested both that it had taken far too long for Nielsen to provide this service and that the MRC was no longer fit for purpose as it had endorsed the Nielsen service whilst still failing to endorse those seeking to provide an alternative.

In most markets around the world there has been a great deal of progress towards measuring total video audiences and it is now widely agreed that this can only be achieved by a combination of big data and panel data – a hybrid approach like that adopted by Nielsen in the US. The Nielsen product was in fact launched some time ago but was held back as currency at the request of the broadcasters themselves. To criticise Nielsen alone for the delay is to greatly simplify the complex politics specific to US video measurement.

Meanwhile, it seems ironic to imply MRC afforded special treatment for Nielsen given that it was the MRC withdrawal of Nielsen accreditation in 2021 that lit the fuse for the whole ‘alt currency’ movement of alternative suppliers in the first place. As with many conspiracy theories, the simplest answer is the most probable. It would seem likely the MRC has not yet approved the alternatives to Nielsen simply because they may not yet be ready to be accredited as fit for purpose.

As asi attendees and podcast listeners will know, these hybrid systems are complex. Whilst there is consensus around the broad concept, the detailed application will vary market by market. The difficulties in managing the relationship between big data sets and panel data to best effect was discussed at our recent Venice conference (see below):

 
There continues to be real and innovative progress being made in many countries towards the measurement of total video and these will be shared at this year’s asi International Television & Video Conference in Copenhagen on 5th-7th November.