Nielsen’s cross-platform measurement product sets launch date

• Nielsen said an anticipated cross-platform measurement product will hit the market Jan. 11 in a news release.  
• Nielsen One Ads promises a consistent and deduplicated view of ads across linear TV, connected TV (CTV), desktop and mobile. The solution aims to provide measurement of linear TV audiences second-by-second versus the industry’s minute-level standards, for a more comparable reference point to digital. 
• Initially available in the U.S., the offering represents an ambitious bid by Nielsen to evolve its measurement capabilities for the streaming era and arrives as the firm’s traditional ratings system comes under fire.

The first piece of Nielsen One, which is intended to eventually replace the company’s legacy ratings model, has a launch date. Nielsen One Ads will test whether one of the industry’s most influential measurement players can meet the demands of a fragmented media landscape where getting a comprehensive snapshot of consumer viewing habits has proved difficult. It also serves as a potential answer to alternative currencies that have dogged Nielsen since it lost its Media Rating Council accreditation for TV ratings in 2021, spurring a shift to more impression-based measurement.  

The new solution is positioned around giving brands and publishers a better understanding of reach and frequency across screens, while being speedier than legacy models. Nielsen One Ads will have “always on” metrics for digital campaigns and plans to provide analysis for linear TV second-by-second, breaking from the lag typically associated with measuring the channel. The product draws on Nielsen One’s proprietary ID system, a third-party cookie alternative, as well as data from its panels. It is part of a larger Nielsen One platform that also plans to introduce new content metrics later in 2023. 

The launch comes as marketers are investing more in streaming media and CTV to combat cord-cutting trends. Disney+ and Netflix have recently introduced ad-supported tiers that are attracting the attention of Madison Avenue but have open questions about their effectiveness. Netflix has said it will apply Nielsen’s digital ratings system sometime this year and wants to eventually integrate Nielsen One. Live sports are also jumping to the digital arena, and have already encountered challenges around ratings.  

Meanwhile, Nielsen rivals have gained newfound traction in the fallout from the MRC rigamorole, which stems from the company undercounting audiences earlier in the pandemic. Nielsen has undergone internal changes after getting acquired by a private-equity consortium for $16 billion last year. In December, the company announced a restructuring plan that saw the departure of several top executives, including Mainak Mazumdar, a key architect behind the Nielsen One platform, according to Ad Age.