Nielsen Offers Quicker Data on Out-of-Home Viewing

Nielsen said it is going to speed up the delivery of some of its out-of-home viewing measurement with the introduction of Nielsen National TV Out-of-Home Preliminary Reporting.

Nielsen introduced its out of home services last April. The current out of home report takes weeks to produce and includes seven days of delayed viewing. With the new product, a client can request data on a specific telecast and get it in four days. But the data will include only live plus same day viewing.

For networks in the news and sports business, out-of-home viewing in bars, health clubs, hotels and other locations, can represent 10% or more of their total audiences. With the introduction of Nielsen’s out-of-home, some networks including ESPN, have been able to negotiate including out of home viewers in their ad delivery.

Related: Out-of-Home Count Adds 12M Super Bowl Viewers

Getting the data quicker can be an advantage for programmers. For example, Fox Sports ordered the early data to see how the Daytona 500 performed.

“In this heavy news environment, people turn to CNN for the latest news and information on all screens and platforms, wherever they are during the day,” said Robin Garfield, senior VP of research and scheduling for CNN. “It’s important for us to receive real-time consumer data across platforms that we can use to capture a more holistic view of our audience for advertisers and influencers alike. This expedited Nielsen offering marks a step forward in CNN’s ongoing commitment to advancing faster and more comprehensive audience measurement.”

Nielsen’s out of home measurement uses data from Portable People Meters being used by 77,000 panelists. It combines the passively measured out-of-home viewing from the PPM panel with Nielsen’s national representative panel TV. This approach enables Nielsen to represent 65% of TV U.S. households to project what people are watching outside of their homes.

“What used to take weeks now only takes days and once again Nielsen is helping move the industry forward by investing in our reporting capabilities and allowing subscribing clients and the overall industry to uncover the additional viewing that out-of-home often brings in a quick and seamless manner,” said Kelly Abcarian, senior VP, Nielsen Product Leadership. “By expediting this process for subscribing clients, they now have an increased ability to compare out-of-home viewing directly to in-home audiences and make crucial business decisions in a much shorter period of time. In today’s fast-paced environment, it’s not enough simply to know your audience. Its critical to have the knowledge quicker to drive efficiency.”

Nielsen provided statements from other clients supporting the new product.

“Walk into any restaurant, health club or friend’s house, and ESPN is on the screen,” said Cary Meyers, SVP, ESPN Global Fan & Media Intelligence. “That’s why we worked hand in hand with Nielsen to prioritize out-of-home measurement. It’s now just part of how we transact our business, capturing important audiences that previously went uncounted. We were the first media company to subscribe to Nielsen’s National OOH Measurement Service and look forward to the introduction of their OOH Preliminary Reporting tool, which will quantify that lift more quickly and enable better monetization of these insights.”

 “We are always looking to provide our advertising clients with the quickest measurement of the audiences Fox Sports delivers,” said Peter Leimbach, senior VP, Fox Sports Sales Research. “This expedited delivery of out-of-home audiences is valuable, particularly for big live events like our upcoming coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.”

 “In our pursuit of accurate reporting of our engaging content, we’ve been working alongside Nielsen to explore ways of capturing additional viewership that we can transact upon,” said Cindy Davis, executive VP, consumer experience, Disney | ABC Television Group. “We’re pleased with the advancements Nielsen has made in the out of home space and look forward to the results this new tool will deliver.”

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.