Nielsen To Measure YouTube, YouTube TV Ad Inventory On Connected TV Sets
- by Wayne Friedman , October 15, 2020
The growth of video streaming of all types is now an impetus for Nielsen to add new measurement for YouTube and YouTube TV when it comes to the video-site advertising inventory on connected TV platforms.
YouTube’s streaming TV inventory will be measured in Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings and Total Ad …
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Finally---a sign of progress.
One thing to note is that these are not 'Content Ratings' but 'Ad Ratings'.
We have been using DAR for online ads (i.e. not CTV specific) for quite some time. Why the difference? Because the video ads are tagged with a unique code by the advertiser/agency/SSP etc. so that it can be tracked. Tracking content (i.e. programmes) seems to be incomplete due to a lack of universality of content identification data.
Good point, John. So how will Nielsen tally a YouTube ad's "audience"? Will the ad need to be on the screen for at least half of its duration---or all of its duration ---or only two seconds---per the unacceptable IAB "exposure" definition? And how will any of these options compare with "average commercial minute" ratings for TV---which are not ad-specific?No doubt we will soon have an answer to these questions---or will we?
A good question Ed.
With our DAR it is 2 seconds'exposure' on mobile devices, laptops and desktops. It is a binary Y/N threshold based system and not duration weighted. Though given that many online ads are 6-seconds a 2-second threshold is less mislesading than on linear TV. In order to have duration weighted the unique code would need to include ad-duration data that is populated.
We don't have the CTV element in our TV ratings (at this stage). TV ratings currently depend on audio matching to a time-based reference file of linear broadcasts. So an internet-delivered ad would just go in to the 'Other Usage' bucket. That is unless there is a way to match to an ad-based reference audio file (if you don't register you won't be matched). There would be a (small) problem of different video supers over the same creative and audio (e.g. 'Only available at the Upper Kumbukta West outlet') that are technically different ads with different key numbers.