As video consumption habits have rapidly begun shifting across multiple devices, a significant need to understand and evaluate the impact of an advertiser’s video campaigns both offline and online exists. Nielsen’s newest product, Online Audience Segments – TV Viewing, identifies this disparate gap in evaluating true media efficiencies.

Online Audience Segments – TV Viewing connects user/viewer behaviors by providing advertisers the ability to reach their desired TV audiences online more accurately. This is a monumental step to achieving optimal campaign performance in a device agnostic environment. The same data that has been the gold standard within TV is now available to enhance online campaigns, so we as marketers can more strategically align our clients’ TV and online ad campaigns. Currently, Nielsen has partnered with six strategic online ad network partners for distribution and to enhance the value of their data.

The way this program works is by leveraging Nielsen’s unique data assets and TV knowledge and correlating how people watch TV with how they behave online. Nielsen uses a fused panel: a unique, representative sample of both TV and online panelists which provides a privacy-protected source for dynamic segment models based on viewers, rather than households.

We can use this data on behalf of our clients to build robust audience segments based on types of TV viewership, including shows or channels most viewed, heavy or light viewers, genres and viewer attributes. For example, within the Nielsen panel, 38% of users are considered non-to-light TV Viewers – meaning that only 62% of the panel for which TV is purchased is being effectively reached. The 38% that are not reached effectively represent an untapped audience segment for advertisers. By leveraging products like this from Nielsen and their online ad network partners, we can now strategically initiate a client’s brand messaging more effectively and maximize their reach to their target audiences.

The program delivers three immediate solutions:

  • Immediate incremental reach: Reaching the 38% of non-TV and Light TV viewers increases unduplicated coverage
  • Significant frequency boost: By targeting Light TV viewers and Medium TV viewers online increases unduplicated optimal frequency for brand/ad recall
  • Retargeting online from offline exposure: Drive purchase intent by remarketing exposed audience with brand messages to induce desired consumer behaviors

At the conclusion of a campaign, post campaign analytics exist in GRP, reach, and frequency measurement making it possible to gauge the impact of campaigns on television, online, and in a unified cross platform report. Screen convergence, unified reporting, audience amplification modeling, and robust data make this a solution worth testing.