Nielsen to focus on impressions-based audience measurement

Nielsen said the approach would allow it to deliver more complete, precise and representative audience measurement, including cross-platform measurement.

The greater focus on impressions will occur alongside the addition of broadband-only homes (BBO) into Nielsen’s local measurement metrics, planned for January 2022.

Nielsen expects that adding BBO homes will increase reporting sample sizes and capture impressions that could be missing.

The company added the focus on impressions would lay the groundwork for rolling out its cross-media measurement tool Nielsen One across local, national and digital measurement.

BBO had been due to launch in October 2021, but was pushed back following industry requests and to allow it to be reviewed and audited by the Media Rating Council (MRC).

The MRC voted earlier this month to suspend Nielsen’s industry accreditation for its national TV ratings service, following Nielsen’s recent request for a hiatus from the accreditation process for its national TV ratings.

The MRC has also removed the accreditation hiatus that had been in place for Nielsen’s local TV ratings services, and suspended accreditation for these markets.

Nielsen had previously said the pandemic had hindered panel maintenance and recruitment of new panellists. The company has a target to install 41,600 new households by the first quarter of 2022.

Nielsen One, which will unify Nielsen’s audience measurement products, will also be launched in the final quarter of 2022, as part of a plan to fully transition the industry to cross-media metrics by autumn 2024.

David Kenny (pictured), chief executive of Nielsen, said: “Impressions are the great equaliser across all screens, programmes, listeners and viewers.

“Nielsen’s move to prioritise reporting impressions will help standardise the way it measures ads and content, enabling greater comparability across national, local and digital.”