Dive Brief:
- Nielsen and Roku have struck a new multiyear deal that will incorporate data from the connected TV platform into Nielsen’s advanced campaign measurement and outcome solutions, according to a press release.
- The pact expands a longstanding partnership that will continue to see Roku’s large-scale TV data fed into Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement product for linear and streaming TV. As part of the new agreement, Roku will also receive access to Nielsen’s streaming platform ratings.
- Roku is a leader in the U.S. CTV device market, with insights that could help Nielsen round out its streaming measurement offerings in a notoriously fragmented category.
Dive Insight:
Roku’s CTV devices account for more than 21% of total TV viewing, according to Nielsen’s research. That level of market share provides insights that Nielsen will be able to leverage to sharpen its advanced measurement and outcome solutions. For Roku, the expanded partnership provides a line of sight into Nielsen ratings data that could be valuable for shoring up its own bets in streaming. Roku’s app, The Roku Channel, is the second largest in the category based on ad-supported streaming time, per Nielsen.
“This strategic partnership brings together Nielsen’s strength and expertise in streaming measurement with Roku’s category leadership positioning to provide a solution that addresses a timely industry need: granular insights and analytics that marketers need to grow their brand as well as drive results,” said Ameneh Atai, general manager of audience measurement at Nielsen, in a press statement.
Streaming and CTV, including ad-supported options, have grown increasingly popular with consumers while remaining more fragmented and less standardized than linear TV, creating headaches for advertisers. Data-sharing pacts have become more common as platforms and measurement firms try to solve the fragmentation problem.
Nielsen has been busy this year standing up its Big Data + Panel measurement solution, which unifies the firm’s signature panel approach to ratings with data drawn from cable, set-top boxes and smart TVs reaching an estimated 45 million households. Big Data + Panel in January received accreditation from the Media Rating Council, an important step on its path to legitimacy. However, some industry players have more recently pushed back on what they see as flaws in the offering’s methodology.
Beyond Roku, which it has worked with for years, Nielsen has been doubling down on other media and advertising partnerships. Earlier in December, the firm made its Nielsen Marketing Cloud audience segments available via Amazon’s demand-side platform. Advertisers using Amazon DSP can tap into Nielsen audience insights into categories like CPG, auto and finance for campaigns running on Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV and Amazon’s website. Nielsen this month also deepened its work with Horizon Media, with a focus on advanced audience and identity-matching capabilities.
