Nielsen’s Gracenote Launches Streaming App Measurement

Nielsen’s Gracenote unit is launching a new product designs to measure the performance of mobile video apps.

Gracenote’s Mobile Video Analytics provides mobile operators, MVPDs, video streaming services and hardware makers insights into user behavior with their apps, including engagement levels and comparisons to competitors’ products.

“Nielsen has been at the forefront of measuring television and digital video content for decades and the new Gracenote Mobile Video Analytics solution extends our market-leadership position in the mobile streaming space,” said Mike Greenawald, senior VP, connectivity for Gracenote. “In a hotly-contested marketplace for subscribers, it is critical to understand the factors that drive engagement and retention. Gracenote Mobile Video Analytics identifies the key video performance factors that enable our customers to gain a competitive edge and make more informed business decisions."

Nielsen bought Gracenote in Feb 2017 from Tribuine Media for $560 million. The product introduction comes days after hedge fund operator Elliott Management disclosed that it owns an 8% stake on Nielsen and will be pushing the company to put itself up for sale.

Mobile Video Analytics focuses on:

  • Experience: Iinsights into the performance quality of mobile video services that have the biggest effect on a subscriber’s experience and satisfaction, such as video resolution, start-up times and buffering.
  • Engagement: Engagement metrics to understand how, when and where viewers tune-in, average viewing time, as well as payload, stickiness, network access and speed.
  • Attitudes: Reasons mobile users choose to subscribe to or disengage from specific streaming services, including their intention to switch and feedback on pricing.

Gracenote says that with the insights its product provides, streaming video services can learn how performance impacts engagement on their platforms compared to those of their competitors, allowing them to take appropriate actions if necessary to ensure high usage rates.

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.