Odds Now Favor Competition in U.S. TV Ratings: Part 6 – Bill Harvey

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Cover image for  article: Odds Now Favor Competition in U.S. TV Ratings: Part 6 – Bill Harvey

Why Competition Never Possible Before is Now Likely -- A Multi-Part Series. (Read parts 1-5 here .)

Nielsen’s TV audience measurement system has proven itself invulnerable to competition for the better part of a century. What has changed today that makes competition more likely?

Fundamentally, Nielsen itself has changed. Those changes were discussed in Part 2 .

The competition has also changed. Those changes were discussed inPart 3 and Part 4.

We reviewed how each player is currently positioned in Part 5.

Now here is our own assessment of what each player does best:

PlayerWhat It Does Best
Nielsen·      Maintains currency status by making it easiest/most convenient to stay with Nielsen for all services, by bundling special tabulations with base price;
·      Making the least investment in improvements/acquisitions that must close the gap against innovating competitors;
·      Conforming all other data to its national peoplemeter panel, which makes any flaws in its fusions etc. invisible; 
·      and other shrewd business moves, including acquisition of Arbitron PPM technology.
comScore·      Staying always a step ahead of Nielsen by innovating rather than following; 
·      Maintaining its lead over Nielsen in learning how to best measure/report digital and how to best use big data; 
·      Offering a full range of services including surveys among its passively collected data samples; 
·      Partnering with other industry innovators such as ESPN’s Artie Bulgrin and AT&T; 
·      Using ARF and other venues to definitively report flaws in the approaches used by others and even in approaches previously used itself.
Simulmedia·      Using innovative analytics to find value for specific advertisers in longtail and other inventory; 
·      Assembling enormous set-top box data samples with Nielsen + TRA and other data; 
·      Proving business lift in various dimensions from use of its services; 
·      Working with everybody to cause positive change to be seriously considered collaboratively, making its vast data resources available for free through easy to use web interface and pro bono industry publications; 
·      and continuously expanding its scope of inquiry.
Rentrak·      Amassing censuses of VOD and box office and enormous set-top box data sample sizes; 
·      Having offerings in mobile and social; 
·      Maintaining the pole position in visibility across the industry second only to Nielsen itself; 
·      Thinking outside the box (e.g. acquisition of Kantar STB unit); 
·      Sales prowess second to none; 
·      Leading adoption of STB data among TV stations, automotives and agencies; 
·      Managing the financial shrinkage of its original base business by means of a transition to more viable categories of return path data. 
TRA/TiVo Research·      Proving that brands by use of TRA increase sales/ROI at the same media expenditure, with advertisers attesting to these increases publicly at ARF and other industry events; 
·      Proving that networks increase ratings by use of TRA; 
·      Amassing the largest sample of direct-match-no-fusion TV+digital+purchase for cars, CPG, RX, and CRM (advertiser’s own household purchase data at scale); 
·      Conducting pro bono methodological research showing the inaccuracy of fusion, making data available through DMPs and other digital entities; 
·      Achieving high marks from ARF Research Review; 
·      Second-by-second measurement of DVR playback; 
·      Fast mature custom report web user interface with many specialized reports e.g. measurement of tune-in impact on ratings by frequency/networks etc.
Symphony Advanced Media·      Having the only passive TV+digital+mobile+social+search+GPS+
survey system all on the same people without fusion through a downloadable app that is almost invisible to the respondent in every way; 
·      Making its system available to others so as to enable the aggregation of big data combing all the key media vectors on exactly the same people without the need for fusion; 
·      Working with CIMM and others to learn how the industry wants its system to develop further; 
·      Making data available through DMPs and other digital entities; 
·      Matching advertiser’s own household purchase data onto its samples; 
·      Announced commitment to scaling up sample size and working with industry to maximize quality even when investment required.
  

Obviously the industry benefits from the existence of so many excellent services doing work complementary to one another. However, very few if any entities feel they can afford to buy all of it, especially given what Nielsen costs, Nielsen being a required not elective course. This is why many of the other players are in continual discussions with each other as to how to team up. These discussions are sure to continue and even to escalate.

In the installment coming up next, what will each of these players be doing in the near future?

Bill Harvey is a well-known media researcher and inventor who co-founded TRA, Inc. and is itsBill HarveyStrategic Advisor. His nonprofit Human Effectiveness Institute runs his weekly blog on consciousness optimization. Bill can be contacted at bill@billharveyconsulting.com

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