October 24, 2007

Google And Nielsen Link Up To Measure TV Ads

Erick Schonfeld

20 comments »

Google is putting its chocolate into Nielsen Media Research’s peanut butter. The two companies have signed a pact to cooperate on measuring the effectiveness of TV advertising. Currently, companies can buy Google TV Ads only on the Dish satellite network.

Google is bringing second-by-second analytics and feedback to the TV advertising world, but all it can do right now is measure what’s happening inside the set-top box. The deal with Nielsen will allow Google to add a crucial layer of demographic data. The combination of Google’s second-by-second reporting of which ads are being watched with Nielsen’s panel-based demographics should prove delicious to advertisers. Now all Google has to do is gain a foothold in other cable and satellite TV networks besides Dish.

We’ll let you know when that happens.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 7:55 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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The Google Set-Top Box (Think Android For TV)

November 20th, 2007 at 9:49 am

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funny youtube video

October 24th, 2007 at 8:16 am

LOL.hahhaha my friend just email me this morning… I can’t stop laughing.
here

October 24th, 2007 at 8:17 am

This is something to cheer you up, guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr_RAMPt6GU
Andre de Cavaignac

October 24th, 2007 at 8:29 am

Anyone ever consider that this may be a way to prove how ineffective TV ad’s are so that Google can drive more ads towards its core business? Look’s like they’re using Nielson as a tool to break the myth of “high viewer rates” on TV. More incentive for video and everything else to come to the web :-).
john matthews

October 24th, 2007 at 8:47 am

After having spent 8+ years in TV advertising I would suggest that Nielsen tidy up the property on the house it owns before buying another house.

This is a company that still relies on a so-called sample of 5-13,000 TV viewers writing down their TV viewing habits into paper journals.

Starting with this past September Nielsen also transitioned to what’s called C3 which means they now measure commercial ratings + DVR viewing within 3 days of live program air time. This is a transition from pure program ratings based on so-called live viewing data collected out of that sample size I had mentioned. This was not an easy transition and will be messy once all of the contradicting data is revealed in the coming months.

Everyone knows that Nielsen’s data is not valid, yet nothing can be done to stop them. The TV networks are opposed to change because it will affect the millions and millions of dollars they “earn,” the ad agencies are opposed because they are lazy and the clients (advertisers) don’t want to see change because this is all they know. Business as usual in TV.

Nielsen…please, stay away from the web, I’m begging you!
Kelli

October 24th, 2007 at 8:52 am

@3, I highly doubt that. Even though tv ad spending is down, at more than $30 billion annually, it’s still the place to advertise. This is an incredibly smart move for Google, can you imagine if they do get that foothold into cable and DirecTv (I heard they had a deal but it must have broken down?)? Their stock would go insane as investors would breathe a sigh of relief that even if there was another internet bubble to burst, Google would have tv advertising to fall back on.

This just continues to amaze me that Google was a late comer to the PPC advertising party, then perfected it, and is moving into radio, print and tv while Yahoo and MSN are so far behind you can’t even really call them competitors.
motor cars

October 24th, 2007 at 9:01 am

google’s feet are spreading over the world. that’s horrible.
Dan Schawbel

October 24th, 2007 at 9:24 am

Google is taking over.
steve Ballmer

October 24th, 2007 at 9:27 am

Gaggle does not exist!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Matthieu Moyse

October 24th, 2007 at 9:32 am

For me Google is just anticipating the fusion between TV and web, wich will be effective a lot more earlier than TV producer think…
Brad Jashinsky

October 24th, 2007 at 9:38 am

I agree with you Andre that this may be Google looking to prove Nielsen ineffective, because in a lot of ways they almost seem like competitors yet mirror opposites in philosophy. Nielsen has traditionally been about the human element of reporting where Google has always put the machine ahead of humans. Has Google done any deals with TiVo or a cable company (Similar to the Dish deal), because those are more similar to Google’s traditional business model of an automated software controlled system without the interference of the human element?
david

October 24th, 2007 at 10:40 am

chocolate & peanut butter?
Austin Storm

October 24th, 2007 at 11:01 am

Did I mention how much I enjoy your posts?
Seth

October 24th, 2007 at 11:07 am

Just another example of innovation by one of the most diverse (as far as experience) corporate boards in America http://www.newsvisual.com/news.....oogle.html
Jerome

October 24th, 2007 at 1:44 pm

I would also like to say that I enjoy the pleasurable prose you bring here.
David

October 24th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

Andre,

TV advertising is not necessarily ineffective, nor is search engine marketing necessarily more effective. They are just different tools in a marketer’s arsenal. The tool(s) you select depend on the objective of the campaign.

However IMO Google will be in for a surprise if they think they can quickly make significant inroads into the so-called advertiser/agency “industrial” complex, which is to some extent based on personal relationships established over many years, not data. For most advertisers controlling the big $, the decision to place an ad is an emotional one rather than a data-driven one…. I don’t know if this is changing, but if it is, it’s taking place very slowly.
anuj

October 24th, 2007 at 9:10 pm

Nielsen’s Rating has been obsolete for quite a few years now especially in the DVR world. They are just trying become relevant. I say google buy them and just put them in the cellar.
john matthews

October 25th, 2007 at 6:27 am

Nielsen belongs in the so-called Deadpool.
David

October 25th, 2007 at 7:27 am

Anuj, you have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t work for Nielsen but would suggest that you get a clue before you write anything further.

Nielsen tracks DVR viewing through three separate data streams - Live viewing + same day DVR viewing, live viewing + seven day DVR viewing, and the new C3 data stream described above, which includes DVR viewing of commercials within a 3 day window.

Moreover current DVR penetration is only at about 18-25%, depending on whose data you look at. Also, I think it’s unlikely that significantly more than half of all households will ever get a DVR - they are simply too complex for many TV viewers to operate.

Finally as to the question of accuracy, as long as the sample size is large enough, there’s no real reason why Nielsen ratings wouldn’t be accurate. Techies tend to distrust sample methodology, even if it is developed by professional statisticians with PhDs.
john matthews

October 26th, 2007 at 6:55 am

Not sure of the percentage, but there are still many in the middle U.S. that remain on the rabbit ear antenna, so that supports the non-DVR household case above.

I am by no means a tech-guy, but I dispute the Neilsen methodology based on my 8 ears of looking and reporting on their data. I also worked at major network and saw how the game worked from that angle.

Case in point, several years ago the M1834 demographic dropped off significantly and the question on the floor was “where have all of the male viewers gone?” Video games was one theory, but there were many, and although no one was ever able to prove their theory the male viewers suddenly started reappearing into the ratings quietly.