Curiouser And Curiouser
CuriosityStream was just one of many streaming TV services that saw an engagement uptick during the pandemic, but hit a painful wall when viewership patterns rightsized and most of the major media companies rushed out their own apps. The result was an oversaturated streaming market.
In 2023, CuriosityStream, which makes documentaries and series about travel, nature and wildlife, was almost delisted from the Nasdaq, The Information reports. The company probably would have been toast, but it survived just long enough for AI platforms to emerge – and raise countless billions of dollars.
Now, CuriosityStream’s profits are through the roof thanks to its role as a data licenser to Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and Meta. Its content isn’t particularly useful as fodder for AI prompt responses. But what CuriosityStream does have, though, is a massive library of footage of people smiling and laughing outdoors at dusk, for example, and other highly specific combinations of lighting, mood and facial expressions.
Most importantly, however, its documentaries were filmed with non-union actors, voice actors, historians, contributors and production talent. So it has the rights to fully open up its archive to the big platforms without any contractual holdup or revenue share.
Needling Nielsen
The NFL is fed up with Nielsen, reports Mike Shields at Next in Media.
The dustup is over Nielsen’s recent changes to its Big Data + Panel product, including a new co-viewing measurement methodology for tracking when multiple people are watching TV.
The NFL is encouraged by Nielsen’s attempts to better account for co-viewing, the league’s chief data and analytics officer, Paul Ballew, recently told Front Office Sports.
But Ballew also complains to Shields that the NFL expects Nielsen’s changes to hurt live sports ratings just a year after its best-rated season since 1989. According to Ballew, Nielsen hasn’t addressed some of its data blind spots and is now trying to fill the gaps using new methodologies without fully explaining the changes to stakeholders. He’s also unmoved by Nielsen’s acquisition of ad verification provider DoubleVerify.
Nielsen issued a statement to say it’s “delivering the most accurate TV measurement ever, especially when it comes to live sports.” And it claims to keep sports leagues updated on its changing methodology.
But Ballew says there are widespread concerns about whether Nielsen will ever get to “the next level,” where it can accurately measure TV and digital viewership.
Still, Shields questions whether these complaints are anything more than a negotiating tactic, given that sports leagues keep working with Nielsen even as they threaten to adopt alternate currencies. In other words, the currency wars are very much still on.
Gauge The Mood
Speaking of Nielsen, it released a new Gauge report this week highlighting some recent trends around ad-supported TV viewing – and a sneak peek of some intended updates to its measurement methodology.
Approximately 71.5% of total TV viewing last quarter was ad-supported, according to the report, which represents a slight (1.3%) decline from the first quarter. Roughly 48.2% of ad-supported TV viewing last quarter was on streaming.
Nielsen is also shifting its primary focus from measuring total TV viewing (Persons 2+) to adults 18 and older (Persons 18+). Using this new lens, streaming’s share of viewing falls from 48.2% to 44.4%, while broadcast and cable gain share. Translation: Once you take kids out of the mix, TV looks a lot more linear, because younger generations skew heavily toward streaming. (No surprise there.)
Nielsen’s Gauge reports do not yet include data from the Advertising Research Foundation’s DASH TV Universe Study, which Nielsen integrated into its measurement currency ratings earlier this year. Nielsen plans to add that data to its Gauge reports starting in the fall.
Hopefully, the industry’s response to Nielsen’s use of ARF data is more positive than the first time around.
But Wait! There’s More!
Amazon becomes a vital sales outlet for indie and DTC ecommerce merchants. [The Information]
Chris Malone steps down from his role as OpenAI’s head of data centers. [WSJ]
X (née Twitter) has a new revenue stream for creators. But can it convince any of them to make content for its platform? [Digiday]
Anthropic reportedly plans to tell investors it has a $30 trillion total addressable market – which is roughly 12 times the size of the entire tech sector combined. [WSJ]
You’re Hired!
The Home Depot appoints Kroger vet Christine Foster to VP and general manager of Orange Apron Media, the company’s retail media arm. [release]
Canela Media promotes Andrés Rincón to EVP of revenue. [release]
Hightouch appoints Google veteran Jitendra Kumar as head of commercial for advertising. [release]
Out-of-home advertising company Intersection hires KJ O’Connell as director of experiential sales. [release]
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