Simulmedia Strikes Another Nielsen Deal, Licenses CPG Targeting Data
- by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, October 15, 2014
Simulmedia is building on its relationship with Nielsen, announcing a deal this morning to license Nielsen Catalina Solutions’ (NCS) data to help consumer packaged goods marketers target their
TV advertising buys based on actual consumer product purchasing data.
The deal follows a recent agreement between Simulmedia and Nielsen to develop a system for measuring niche cable TV networks that currently are not rated by Nielsen.
"We are pleased to expand our relationship with Nielsen and activate Nielsen Catalina Solutions' consumer purchase data across Simulmedia's massive, audience-based TV network, which includes the majority of TV networks and operators in the U.S.," Simulmedia founder and CEO Dave Morgan said in a statement, adding: “The media world is shifting from just delivering media outputs to delivering business outcomes.”
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NCS, a joint-venture of Nielsen and Catalina (formerly Catalina Marketing), is a so-called “single-source” measurement system that tracks the media usage and retail purchases of consumer households in the same panel, giving marketers the ability to correlate media effects with consumer behavior. It has become an integral resource for some big marketers and agencies, including Interpublic’s Mediabrands’ Magna Global unit’s AMP audience-targeting system. Publicis’ Starcom MediaVest Group recently struck a deal to integrate Nielsen Catalina Solutions’ data directly into its internal TV planning and buying system.
Simulmedia said its deal will enable it to integrate NCS consumer packaged goods audience segments directly into Simulmedia’s database, allowing brands and agencies to target their TV advertising buys based on actual consumer product purchasing behavior.
In the past, when we've looked at this, there was typically a problem being able to execute buys because of the way that the networks (broadcast and cable) package their inventory. Also, it was hard to apply this to large CPG clients who buy in bulk and then allocate to individual brands. Therefore the data was seen as somewhat useful for allocating from a corporate pool of inventory, but not so much in the actual buying. Are you able to get around that? I'd be curious to understand how
Neil, you are in the correct zone that historically it has been difficult to activate media beyond the demo based on packaging by the sellers. However, as better data is applied to media decisions (like NCS tied to inventory), new packaging techniques that deliver better yield management to the sell side will ultimately incent them to generate better business outcomes for advertisers. Both sides win, in that the media is better bought and better sold.
Neil, as David points out, larger data sets with more granular viewing and purchase data that can be matched now makes this possible. In the end, it's taking it down to the impression level on the media side and the product level on the advertiser side. Historically, all were bundled. Going forward, they will be dis-aggregated, both in campaign delivery and measurement.
Because of my respect for Dave Morgan and Simulmedia, I must hope that Nielsen treats its business partners better than it has treated its business clients for the last 7 months. This morning's edition of "MediaDailyNews" contained yet another shocking revelation about a Nielsen “glitch" that went undetected by Nielsen for 7 months. Accuracy, reliability & trust seem to have flown south for a long, cold Winter.
Link to story: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/236239/nielsen-to-reprocess-all-ratings-affected-by-glitc.html
Allow me to connect the dots, so we don't suffer silo-filler's disease in our industry. The real issue is not TV ratings for specific programs & specific networks. Television Journalists and Journalists who cover Television - in all forms - should be focusing on the accuracy and reliability of the entire medium's measurement. It's a matter of methodology & management. The mind boggles with last Friday's scenario: beloved Nielsen SVP, Pat McDonough, soon to retire, was forced to defend the TV ratings mill, while inscrutable CEO, Mitch Barns, remained invisible and silent, like Kim Jong-un. (Unlike Mitch, however, Kim has reappeared.) So, what is Nielsen hiding? It's time for the FTC & FCC to confront the ratings monopoly and force the issue of professional, scientific accountability. As if this “glitch” wasn't enough, there’s more trouble to come. Nielsen is now working on plans to implement a process that would increase the apparent "statistical reliability" of its ratings by appearing to significantly reduce the standard errors (SE) of its estimates. In fact, Nielsen will be diminishing the "statistical validity" (i.e., accuracy) of its ratings estimates. Instead of tabulating (i.e., counting) the actual viewership from NPM (Nielsen People Meter) Households, as it ought to -- and has claimed to for more than 5 decades, Nielsen will model (i.e., arithmetically guess) the sample panel’s viewing data in a substantial portion of its newly "Expanded Sample Frame.” And it ought to be noted that the expansion will come predominantly from households equipped solely with "archaic" set meters, not modernized People Meters (i.e., GTAM/STPM). Arthur C. Nielsen once admonished: "Watch every detail that affects the accuracy of your work." Alas, the institutional memory is being wiped "clean" for the sake of popularity & profitability. The scientific method & measurement principles seem no longer to be sine qua non. If Nielsen ratings are to be considered the currency of the marketing, advertising & media industries, then Nielsen is called to the highest levels of accountability & fiduciary responsibility, from which it has fallen far short. In sum, this is not a Nielsen "glitch;" it's a media business fiasco. And Nielsen business partners need to be as careful as Nielsen business clients. [Nicholas P. Schiavone: Former NBC Research Chief & Chairman, CONTAM, 1990 to 1999]