The Nielsen Co. and ESPN are collaborating to introduce Nielsen’s first combined TV and Internet household ratings system.
Nielsen will deploy two measurement tools: its People Meters in households receiving ESPN programming to measure TV viewing and Nielsen/NetRatings’ Internet metering technology to track Web usage. The network will make results available to several of its advertisers starting in the first quarter of next year.
The TV/Net ratings combo can track hours per week spent viewing TV and Web usage, simultaneous usage of both media and the impact of promotions that seek to prod Web users to turn on the TV, or vice versa.
“If you’re a media company, you can know how your content works across every form of media,” said Jon Mandel, CEO of NielsenConnect, the new integrated service arm of Nielsen. “ESPN is a good starting point for it. There is not a form of media that they’re not in.”
ESPN reaches a younger, upscale male demographic that is active across all media. And Mandel noted that its advertisers also represent a diverse cross-section of products, including autos, packaged goods, financial services and fast foods.
Nielsen plans to work with many TV network partners on the new ratings system, but wanted to start with a single network to ensure the system’s functionality, Mandel said.
Nielsen can combine the ratings results with customer data to produce customized research to measure all media, Mandel said. The idea is to be able to fine tune data and enable companies to see what works with targeted demographic groups on different media, providing insight into producing messages tailored to a specific medium.
“It can be as narrow or expansive as anybody needs it to be,” Mandel said.
Nielsen’s measurement capabilities have expanded into all areas, including in-store promotions, he added.
Network
