Neilson, the largest audience measurement company, has spent the more than two years developing a new tool that claims to "finally allow them to fully measure and monetize viewers". AdWeek has been given a first look at Neilson's new Total Audience Measurement months before it's release. This single sourced platform will account for all viewing across linear TV, DVR, VOD, connected TV devices (Roku, Apple TV and Xbox), mobile, PC and tablets. The only thing that is not supported through this new tool is media viewed through the apple watch.
"What we're acutely aware of is our measurement underpins $70 billion worth of advertising,"
"The total audience measurement tool, which will roll out late in the first quarter of 2016 (Nielsen will begin to share data with clients in December, allowing them full access to the tool), will allow users to break down programs by categories like unique audience, reach, gross average minute audience (both in viewers and GRP—gross ratings point, where one GRP is equal to 1 percent of TV households), minutes viewed and frequency (the average number of exposures to a show or network). Users can search across a variety of demos, date ranges and platforms."
Neilson has used four major technologies prior to this advancement: Diaries, Set Meters, Household Meters, and People Meters. Diaries were the first measurement tool Neilson used in the 50's. This measurement was relatively inaccurate based on the high likelihood for user error. Users would simply record in a journal which programs they were watching, but many individuals would not consistently or accurately account for their consumption of media.
This lack of precision led to the development of set meters, which was a device that would be secured to the home television set and electronically record which programs were playing. This, however, left a gap in user demographics as it did not account for the multitude of people that may be consuming the media at the same time.
Finally, Neilson developed the Personal People Meter which is a device worn by all members of the household. This device listens, and matches frequency with media programming so that even if a user is not directly watching a program, but hears it from another room, it's recorded.
This new technology combines all of the most recent media sources in the monitoring system which only allows a more efficient method. This ability to look so closely and accurately at television audiences will additionally revolutionize the advertising industry. The more information that advertisers are able to purchase, the better they are able to target their audience, and thus reduce wasted advertisements. This co-dependant relationship is ever developing, and it was only a matter of time before they produced technology that could monitor digital content in addition to conventional television programming.
This lack of precision led to the development of set meters, which was a device that would be secured to the home television set and electronically record which programs were playing. This, however, left a gap in user demographics as it did not account for the multitude of people that may be consuming the media at the same time.
Finally, Neilson developed the Personal People Meter which is a device worn by all members of the household. This device listens, and matches frequency with media programming so that even if a user is not directly watching a program, but hears it from another room, it's recorded.
This new technology combines all of the most recent media sources in the monitoring system which only allows a more efficient method. This ability to look so closely and accurately at television audiences will additionally revolutionize the advertising industry. The more information that advertisers are able to purchase, the better they are able to target their audience, and thus reduce wasted advertisements. This co-dependant relationship is ever developing, and it was only a matter of time before they produced technology that could monitor digital content in addition to conventional television programming.