Giant media buyer Publicis is telling network sales executives that it does not think Nielsen’s new panel-plus-big-data currency is ready for this upfront.

Publicis will stick with Nielsen, using the measurement company’s traditional panel-based ratings. The media buyer is eager to use Nielsen’s big data product when it meets its standards, according to people involved in preliminary upfront discussions.

Publicis declined to comment for this story.

Nielsen has acknowledged that it needs to improve on its panel-based ratings system, which has dominated the TV audience measurement business for decades.

The upstart companies challenging Nielsen are basing their audience estimates on big data from set-top boxes and smart TVs. They say big data from millions of households is better for measuring today’s fragmented viewing universe than a panel of just 40,000 homes. Big data is also required for the way marketers now target specific audiences with their TV advertising.

Nielsen has been working on a new ratings stream that uses big data, with its panel serving as a “truth set” that enables it to create person-level data and adjust for errors, biases and other imperfections in the big data sets it works with.

Last month, Nielsen announced that it would make its panel-plus-big-data measurement product available for use as its preferred currency for transacting advertising deals effective in September, when upfront deals cut this spring and summer will take effect. Nielsen will also continue to produce its panel-only ratings, and customers can use that as currency if they want.

"We've worked through the lengthy audit and accreditation process, and are confident that we will answer the outstanding questions," a Nielsen spokesperson said. "We understand that bringing major product enhancements to the marketplace requires our clients to adapt and embrace change."  

Publicis has been a key player in testing Nielsen’s new methodologies along with the Walt Disney Co. 

One of Publicis’ concerns is that it has less than a year of what Nielsen calls “impact data,” a sample of  what the new ratings would look like if they were in effect this TV season. Publicis does not believe it has a sufficient amount of historical data to be able to make projections about how many people will see the commercials it plans to buy.

It’s not good business to invest billions of dollars in commercials without reliable projections, media buying sources noted.

The Nielsen impact data also has not been stable, with big fluctuations. And while some of the changes resulting from a change in methodology seem to make sense, it also includes anomalies that defy explanation–another sign the data is not ready for prime time.

On top of that, a lot of the data generated covers the period when the Writers Guild of America and actors union SAG-AFTRA were on strike, eliminating most of the original programming on linear networks and boosting streaming. That also makes it hard to project when the broadcast networks will start their fall schedules.

The big-data products from other measurement companies are similarly not ready for this upfront, in Publicis’s view. That's why the media agency will continue to use the Nielsen panel data many in the industry call outdated as its currency for transactions.

Publicis is hardly the only client with concerns about Nielsen’s big data methodology. Nielsen had planned to roll out its big data a year ago, but admitted it wasn’t fully baked.

After the pandemic cut the number of people participating in its panel, Nielsen lost Media Rating Council accreditation for its panel-based national measurement system. It regained the accreditation for its panel-based ratings, but there have been delays in getting approval for adding big data. 

Nielsen decided to make its panel-plus-big data rating available without MRC accreditation.

At the same time, Nielsen competitors VideoAmp, Comscore and  iSpot received various levels of certification from the buyers and sellers participating in the U.S. Joint Industry Council on Measurement. Nielsen has declined to work with the JIC.

In March, Comscore received MRC accreditation for measuring household-level viewing. 

Using data from 45 million households and 75 million Dish Network, DirecTV, Roku, Vizio and Comcast devices, Nielsen’s panel-plus-big-data measurement produces audience estimates that are 4% to 5% higher than employing panels alone. Ratings for most shows are up slightly or flat, Nielsen said.

But for some networks, like Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision, the gains are much larger. TelevisaUnivision plans to use the new system in the upfront.

Telly, which got a lot of attention last year when it offered to send dual-screen smart TVs to consumers for free, said it is adding new attention-getting features to its platform.

At CES 2024 in Las Vegas this week, Telly will be showing on new tech and capabilities including a voice assistant powered by ChatGPT.

Telly said that in the thousands of homes where its TVs have been set up, usage is more than twice the national average of 3.5 hours. Usage is higher because Telly sets are functioning as the primary TV in the household and for more than just watching video, Telly said.

Telly won't say how many TV sets it has distributed, but it has a waiting list of 450,000 people who have signed up to share personal data in exchange for the device.

“Consumers love Telly,“ Telly CEO and founder Ilya Pozin said. “Usage rates are far outpacing our expectations and are more than twice the national average for household living room TV-viewing time.

“Just as the iPhone’s use cases go beyond the ‘phone’ on the go, Telly consumers use the device beyond TV in the home. Zoom video calling, music, video games, voice assistant and more, are all built-in and all for free,” Pozin said.

Telly plans to make money from its free TVs by selling data and advertising.

Also Read: DAZN, Telly Adopt TheTake’s Interactive, Shopping Capabilities

Automaker Kia advertised on Telly, taking advantage of the full takeover unit on its second screen. Telly delivered a 60% recall rate for Kia, 300% higher than competitive auto companies’ commercial in broadcast and streaming commercial breaks.

“Brands advertising on TV acknowledge how difficult it is to find and follow audiences in today’s fragmented environment,” Kia America VP and head of marketing Russell Wagner said. “Telly, with its unique model and innovative ad inventory, solves that problem. Kia, as an early adopter, is thrilled with our results on Telly and excited to scale with them."

To sell more advertising Telly has made deals with Google, The Trade Desk, OpenX, Nexxen and tvScientific.

It has also made an arrangement with PMG, which has agreed to scale its advertising commitments as Telly expands its distribution.

Telly is also part of GroupM’s Innovator Accelerator Program.

To improve the performance of advertising on Telly, Telly has installed an integrated browser that lets consumers go online when they see an interesting offer.

Telly has also enabled T-commerce, letting viewers easily shop on sites from Walmart to Amazon — or order a pizza — while still watching a show or a game.

Telly’s second screen also makes QR codes available to viewers longer and is seeing two times the activity as ads on standard TV sets.

“We’re transforming the biggest screen in the home into the most powerful retail channel since the internet,” Pozin said.

Telly is launching new features for consumers.

The “Hey Telly” voice assistant integrated with ChatGPT offers customizable avatars and personalities, and adapts and personalizes experiences as it learns each user’s preferences over time.

Telly also expanded its Zoom capabilities. Video conferencing on its big screen has been a hit in Telly households, the company said.

By enabling Zoom on its second screen, users can have watch parties, and share their reactions to shows, movies sports and video games with friends and family via live video chats.

A new study suggests that streaming television is starting to look a lot like old-fashioned television, with viewers flipping apps (instead of channels) and watching commercials.

The study, The State of Modern TV Viewership, conducted by Vevo and Publicis Media, found that more than 50% of millennial and Gen X viewers watch free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels monthly, with 89% of viewers saying they think FAST delivers great value.

The study found that only 7% of FAST viewers skipped commercials, with 75% of respondents saying they enjoy a healthy mix of content with and without ads.

With the number of FAST channels exploding, content discovery becomes an important factor.

FAST channels that are preloaded onto sets by smart TV makers have a big advantage, with 49% of viewers saying they discovered the FAST channels they watched because they found apps on their TVs.

Browsing is also becoming big, with 36% of Gen X viewers saying they flip through apps before deciding what to watch, rather than selecting a specific service or program.

“The lines are blurring between app flipping and TV channel flipping — and viewers are super-comfortable cycling through several services and their favorite shows and channels within those services,” Vevo senior VP, research & marketing Julie Triolo said. “Viewers indicate the ease of discovery and quality of FAST programming compels them to stick around in ad-supported TV streaming environments.”

The study also found that 80% of viewers most often watch TV programming on a television set. Viewers said that if they have to watch commercials, 49% prefer pre-roll ads to messages that interrupt programs.

“TV remains the destination for viewing content - as the standard definition for TV, and the way it has evolved has given rise to new ways for consumers to tune into content they love,” Publicis Media VP, marketplace intelligence Megan Halscheid said. “While Millennials and Gen X audiences indicate similar TV-viewing preferences, it will be interesting to follow the evolution of these trends as Gen Z matures and FAST viewing increases. We’re excited to apply these insights into our planning for smarter, more effective investments that really resonate with consumers.”

“For those who love FAST, they assert it’s great to watch day after day,“ she added. “This is a compelling insight as it shows that FAST are growing in terms of viewership, and have the opportunity to build affinity with audiences similar to traditional TV channels. However, the opportunity is in many ways still in its infancy, with huge potential on both the content and supplier side,” add Triolo. “This is just one of the reasons that Vevo has been pushing forward with a ubiquitous distribution strategy so our premium content can meet audiences where they are.”

For the study, 163 online interviews were conducted among viewers 18 to 54 who streamed an hour or more of video per week. The data was collected between Late December 2022 and early January 2023.

The study also conducted 11 60-minute Zoom interviews to give researchers a richer understanding of video consumption.

With more ad dollars flowing to ad-supported connected TV, a new study aimed to determine if streamers were paying attention to the commercials they are showing and found ways to improve how closely viewers look at advertising.

The study found that nearly every variable affected attention, from the streaming service type to the content viewed, the time of day, the viewer’s age and how frequently an ad is seen.

On a fundamental level, the study, commissioned by media agency Publicis Media and Yahoo found that most consumers were OK with seeing commercials during programming if it meant they’d pay less — or nothing — to watch. According to the study, 82% of CTV viewers expect ads on free streaming services and seven in 10 ad-supported VOD users are at least somewhat satisfied with their CTV experience.

But the data on viewability and attention, collected by TVision through facial recognition and eye tracking, and the information on receptiveness, resulting from surveys conducted by Open Mind Strategy, found that paying customers paid more attention, in some cases.

The study found that ad-supported tiers of subscription services — including Hulu, Peacock and HBO Max — and virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) like YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV, generated higher attention than commercial-free versions. The attention percentage for vMVPDs was 35% and the attention percentage for ad-supported hybrids was 33%. That was higher than the 30% generated by smart-TV FAST channels (30%) or FAST platforms (28%). 

Similarly, hybrids and vMVPDs drew more attention time than their free counterparts.

But the study found that some FAST apps were among the higher scorers in terms of attention. Xumo actually had the highest attention percentage of the apps studied, with 47%, and Roku was in the top 20 with 34%. 

The Yahoo and Publicis Media study found that younger viewers (under 40) are almost 60% more likely to spend time with hybrid applications than their older counterparts.

Commercials that appeared on content with high engagement — crime dramas, political commentary, game shows — generated higher attention shares, compared to spots that aired in awards shows, sci-fi or action/adventure programming.

The highest-performing commercials featured people or elements from the show being watched.

Commercials needed six to 10 exposures to generate peak attention, but relatively few ads achieved that level of exposure. Meanwhile, being overly repetitive had a negative impact on brand sentiment. Changing the ad creative over multiple exposures had a positive impact on receptiveness, the study found.

And as on other TV platforms, pod position mattered, with the first commercial in a pod getting more attention time than spots in the middle or at the end of a pod.

The study analyzed 66,000 ads from January to November 2022. The TV panel included 5,000 households and 15,000 individuals who received 1.3 million impressions in four CTV environments. The Open Mind Strategy survey had 1,000 respondents. ■

Advertisers should take advantage of the large audiences flocking to ad-supported streaming services, a new study from Verizon Media and Publicis Media said.

The study, called  capitalizing on the CTV Opportunity," said that while more people are streaming overall, frustration with subscription based services, many of which are ad free, is likely to drive viewers to AVOD and that advertisers should be ready to adjust their spending accordingly.

Streaming subscriptions grew 48% in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to the third quarter, according to internal data from Verizon Media, which is in the process of being sold by Verizon to Apollo Global.

But while 71% of consumers point to premium SVOD as their current “go to” service. The Verizon-Publicis survey said subscription fatigue and overload is pushing cost-conscious consumers from SVOD to AVOD.

Read Also: Addressable TV a Key Priority for Brands and Buyers: Study

Streamers are using an average of five streaming services, but they’re not necessarily happy because watching TV has become complicated. In a survey 76% of consumers said no one streaming service has it all, 45% said they were using too many services for TV content and 48% of streamers worry about how much they’re spending on these services and are sharing passwords to help manage expenses.

The frustration with SVOD is making AVOD a more attractive option for viewers.

The Verizon-Publicis survey found that three in five TV viewers were more aware of AVOD than they were a few years ago. More than half said they were interested in ad supported services. Among those using paid ad free streaming services 83% said they were willing to try an ad-supported service to save money.

When asked why they’re looking at AVOD, 45% of viewers said the service is free, so why not try it and 43% said the AVOD they tried was good quality for a free service. Content was a smaller factor than avoiding more fees. Just 23% said the AVOD services they looked at feature really high quality shows and movies.

Bottom line for Verizon and Publicis is that consumers are turning to myriad streaming connected TV options and the best way o take advantage of that is through an integrated platform that can drive performance and integration for advertisers and deliver a better ad experience for customers and viewers.