Nielsen plans to introduce TV ratings "pocketpieces" for a variety of place-based television networks. The plan, which was revealed by Senior Vice President-Nielsen Strategic Media Research Paul Lindstrom, came out as part of a panel discussion on Wednesday during MediaPost's Digital Out-of-Home Forum in New York.
Lindstrom said the first of the pocketpieces--one for health club video network IdeaCast--would be released in the next "two to three weeks," and that another for Gas Station TV would follow shortly after. By September, he said Nielsen would be publishing pocketpieces for as many as 10 place-based television networks.
Pocketpieces is a term used to describe printed TV ratings reports issued by Nielsen that are designed to fit in someone's vest pocket. Traditional TV networks and stations usually have them published weekly, but Lindstrom told MediaDailyNews that the place-based TV network reports would likely be published monthly due to the fact that their audience dynamics generally change less frequently than for traditional broadcast and cable TV outlets.
Unlike television and online--where Nielsen manages big consumer panels to measure those media's audience estimates--Lindstrom said the place-based media network reports would reply primarily on compiling and modeling third-party data, such as membership data from health clubs, or transaction data at retail outlets of gas station pumps. He said this would be coupled with primary Nielsen research conducted by telephone that would ascribe demographics and other important information to the gross audience estimates. The method is similar to what Nielsen has been utilizing for the cinema advertising industry for several years, and the advent of Nielsen pocketpieces has helped that medium grow its share of advertising budgets.
Lindstrom said the first of the pocketpieces--one for health club video network IdeaCast--would be released in the next "two to three weeks," and that another for Gas Station TV would follow shortly after. By September, he said Nielsen would be publishing pocketpieces for as many as 10 place-based television networks.
Pocketpieces is a term used to describe printed TV ratings reports issued by Nielsen that are designed to fit in someone's vest pocket. Traditional TV networks and stations usually have them published weekly, but Lindstrom told MediaDailyNews that the place-based TV network reports would likely be published monthly due to the fact that their audience dynamics generally change less frequently than for traditional broadcast and cable TV outlets.
Unlike television and online--where Nielsen manages big consumer panels to measure those media's audience estimates--Lindstrom said the place-based media network reports would reply primarily on compiling and modeling third-party data, such as membership data from health clubs, or transaction data at retail outlets of gas station pumps. He said this would be coupled with primary Nielsen research conducted by telephone that would ascribe demographics and other important information to the gross audience estimates. The method is similar to what Nielsen has been utilizing for the cinema advertising industry for several years, and the advent of Nielsen pocketpieces has helped that medium grow its share of advertising budgets.
Our take:
The measurement of place-based digital signage networks continues to be a hot topic in our industry, with numerous publications, panel discussions and even whole conferences dedicated to it. While the Nielsen pocketpieces will provide some reassurance to buyers interested in time on the specific networks Nielsen will cover, the approach does little to further the state of the industry as a whole, aside from note that Nielsen is willing to spend time on it if they are paid enough to do so.
WireSpring's Bill Gerba has written extensively on the state of measurement on the digital signage market. Please refer to the following for additional information:
- Media Planning and Measurement: Implications for In-Store Media
- Will measuring digital signage ads really do us any good?
- How much would you pay to measure digital out-of-home ads?
- Will VNU's new metrics help promote in-store marketing growth?
- The debate continues: How do we measure retail media?
- Digital Signage Expo asks: How do we measure ad-based networks?
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