It must be sweeps week, because TV drama is through the roof.
Nielsen lost its Media Ratings Council accreditation for National TV Ratings. The TV currency company calls the loss of the MRC seal of approval a hiatus while it focuses instead on Nielsen ONE, the cross-channel metric expected to launch late next year.
Broadcasters are frustrated by Nielsen’s undercount of TV audience numbers between when the pandemic started through Q1 this year, according to an MRC audit in February. Nielsen said the MRC council is not impartial, since it consists largely of broadcasters and other TV measurement providers.
On The Big Story this week, we discuss what the loss of one MRC accreditation means for Nielsen, and the ways TV ad sellers are already testing as alternative methods to guarantee certain audience reach benchmarks without the Nielsen standard. Not to mention speculating on a potential Nielsen acquirer.
The Big Story also has a guest appearance this week, with Myles Younger, senior director of Media.Monks’ data practice.
We discuss the ways marketers are bringing seemingly unrelated business data sources to bear in data-driven advertising. Some top beverage brands, for instance, have taken to using their own B2B apps – the online portals that restaurants, convenience stores and grocers use to select and restock drinks – as a leading signal on what kind of drinks are most popular at a local level. Using the data, brands can optimize campaigns to drive local foot traffic.