The CBS project sought to demonstrate “the additive power” of combining local TV and radio buys. Nielsen described the work as follows:

“Using data from October 2013 in five key CBS markets, the proof of concept (POC) fused Nielsen Audio’s Portable People Meter listening data with Nielsen’s Local People Meter television data. Matching consumers across the two panels in each of these markets allowed for modelling cross-platform media consumption. By finding characteristics common across both Nielsen’s audio and television panels in each of these markets, the listening behaviour was ascribed to those panelists with known viewing behaviour.”

Results showed cases where, together, local TV and radio were able to double campaign reach. “In the five markets measured in the POC, an advertiser could reach anywhere from 84% to as high as 93% of all adults 18-plus within a month by leveraging local television and radio together,” said Nielsen, which plans to open up a pilot for additional clients to take part in.

Meanwhile, with Syncbak, Nielsen now has a partner to measure mobile audiences for television programmes – with those measurements potentially feeding in to a programme’s total ratings.

Syncbak is a technology platform that US broadcasters use to stream live and video-on-demand content to web-enabled devices. Syncbak has integrated Nielsen’s software development kit into its portfolio of client applications, meaning any programmes that carry a Nielsen watermark, and which are streamed via Syncbak, can now be detected by Nielsen’s technology.