Nielsen announces measurement deals

The Vizio agreement will create a period of exclusivity for data gathered on 400 US local stations that will then be processed by Vizio’s Inscape Smart TV, and will allow Nielsen to access data from around 20 million smart televisions.

Nielsen will be able to integrate Inscape data into both its local and national audience measurement tools because of the agreement.

Vizio’s Inscape tool captures viewing data from millions of connected television devices and streaming environments.

Mike O'Donnell, chief revenue and engagement officer at Vizio, said: “We're excited to work with Nielsen and for the inclusion of our opted-in viewing data in Nielsen’s services as we continue to help the entire TV marketplace evolve.”

Peter Bradbury, chief commercial officer at Nielsen, said: “At Nielsen, we have a commitment to the industry to continue to innovate and improve for the future. This agreement with one of the premier Smart TV manufacturers, for both national and local measurement, further validates our commitment.”

The agreement with ESL Gaming will extend a working business relationship that had run since 2019 and will focus on research into the esports industry.

ESL Gaming will be able to regularly report monetary valuations to brand partners and advertisers based on Nielsen’s Quality Index Media methodology to allow for benchmarking against other esports and traditional sports organisations.

The partnership will track 17 events, as well as ESL Gaming’s complete mobile esports ecosystem, and will focus on four main areas: media and sponsor valuation; community and fan analytics; using standardised metrics; and mobile gaming and esports.

Tobias Vogt, director commercial operations at ESL Gaming, said: “By expanding this collaboration and including more events, we keep innovating our ecosystems and the wider industry, and we are very excited to continue sharing our extensive knowledge with our existing and future partners.”

Timo Krueger, commercial director esports and gaming at Nielsen Esports, said: “We are working closely with ESL to understand better their challenges to provide the best and most beneficial data around partner valuation and fan/consumer behaviour in a rapidly developing entertainment industry around the world.”

The two deals follow Nielsen’s recently announced quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share of Nielsen’s common stock.

Streaming data
Nielsen has published its inaugural State of Play report, which highlights the rising consumption of video content across both linear and streaming platforms.

The report said that Americans increased their average weekly streaming time for videos by 18%, rising from 143.2 billion streamed minutes in February 2021 to 169.4 billion streamed minutes in February 2022.

Streaming consumption is expected to grow, with 93% of Americans estimating they would either increase or maintain their current paid streaming plans.

However, 46% of audiences felt overwhelmed by the amount of content available on streaming platforms and found it difficult to find content they wanted, with a 20% increase in unique programme titles over the last three years.

The report said that 64% of respondents indicated they wish there was a bundled video streaming service that would allow them to choose as few or as many video streaming services that they wanted.

Brian Fuhrer, senior vice-president, product strategy, at Nielsen, said: “It’s not just that streaming is increasing year over year. Now consumers want access simplified and the explosion of services has renewed discussions around bundling and aggregation.

“Ultimately, these challenges signal an opportunity as the industry harnesses streaming for long-term business growth.”