Nielsen to offer SVoD measurement
October 19, 2017
Performance management company Nielsen is now offering the broadcast industry a syndicated solution to measure independently subscription-based streaming content. With the commercial release of Nielsen Subscription Video On Demand (SVoD) Content Ratings, eight major television networks and production studios, including A&E Networks, Disney-ABC, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Warner Brothers and others, have already signed on to subscribe to what Nielsen describes as a “game-changing” service.
Nielsen began measuring streaming content in 2014 via an opt-in service. This new solution takes SVoD measurement to the next level with a significant enhancement to its video on demand (VoD) Content Ratings framework, which leverages the rich demographic and household characteristic data of the Nielsen National TV Panel, to identify viewing to these programmes.
“The significant growth of SVoD services in entertainment markets across the world has created demand from rights owners to understand the size and composition of audiences relative to other programs and platforms,” said Megan Clarken, President of Watch, Nielsen. “The syndication of SVoD measurement as part of Nielsen’s Total Audience offerings represents a big step forward in terms of moving closer to transparency within the SVoD marketplace.”
With this enhancement, subscribing clients will now have a more comprehensive view of their content’s total audience regardless of where it was viewed—and the ability to follow the full lifecycle of a programme from live to time-shifted viewing to set-top-box video on-demand and now SVoD. Conversely, as SVoD originated programmes re-enter the traditional television ecosystem, an established track record of their audience profiles will already exist. These new insights will empower content owners and networks with real data into what was previously a significant and expanding blind spot of consumer behaviour.
Nielsen’s new SVoD Content Ratings solution will provide measurement of programmes at the season and episode level in a manner comparable to linear television data—including ratings, reach, frequency and segmentation reporting—as a way for clients and the industry to better understand where this content fits in the larger media ecosystem.