Nielsen Product Chief Describes Pandemic As Unprecedented Media 'Lab,' Long-Term Impact Unclear

by Joe Mandese , April 24, 2020

Characterizing the COVID-19 pandemic as a “lab scenario” for the media industry, the head of product strategy at Nielsen said there has never been such a concentrated period of consumer adoption of new and potentially disruptive media technologies like it before, and that it’s unclear how much of it will …

advertising, cmmr, covid-19, digital, future of media, nielsen, research, streaming, technology, television

3 comments about "Nielsen Product Chief Describes Pandemic As Unprecedented Media 'Lab,' Long-Term Impact Unclear".

Check to receive email when comments are posted.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 24, 2020 at 12:31 p.m.
It would be helpful if Fuhrer also gave us a similar comparison of the billions of minutes American households spent "watching" "linear TV", with breakdowns by type of network--broadcast nets, broadcast stations, cable channels, etc. Citing stats such as these--without providing some sort of benchmark for all of TV can be misleading in my opinion. For example, if "linear TV consumption is also rising shouldn't there be at least equal focus on it---like what kinds of content is gaining the most. Also, it might be intersting to track "linear TV" usage among streaming homes. Just a few thoughts.
Reply

Joe Mandese from MediaPost Inc., April 24, 2020 at 12:41 p.m.

@Ed Papazian: Fuhrer did give that, along with many other stats. It's not the part I reported on, because there has been ample data showing TV usage levels being at all-time highs lately. The news was about the new behaviors coming from other media, and the stats he had on the soar in streaming minutes was more newsworthy. Editors and writers have to make choices in what we cover, and generally, I focus on the areas that are new and/or have the greatest consequences for readers. In any case, I've uploaded Fuhrer's chart on total TV usage here if you want to review it.

https://go.aws/2S6P6ud

Frank Anthony from Self, April 25, 2020 at 3:26 a.m.

Brian Fuhrer is as good as they come, and is a legend inside of Nielsen.