Amid a flurry of activity ahead of the 2023 TV upfront ad sales period, NBCUniversal is the latest to new measurement capabilities, thanks to new partnerships with two measurement suppliers.
The company says it will transact on Comscore across local markets and will use Innovid’s InnovidXP to derive cross-platform, outcome-based KPIs for local marketers.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, NBCU EVP of measurement Kelly Abcarian says: “Local has lagged behind national for quite some time in terms of embracing and bringing forward sophisticated tools and advanced data sets in which to really help unlock value for advertisers.
“What we’re really excited about is the ability to usher in a modern way to measure the new modern consumer.”
Local ad upgrade
In August 2021, an exasperated NBCUniversal declared “measurement independence”, after Nielsen was accused of generating inaccurate results.
In 2022, it certified Comscore, noting its work enhancing its offering.
In the latest announcement, it says it is “creating a new multicurrency future for local advertisers” and “establishing a new set of measurement standards to transform the way billions of dollars in premium local advertising is transacted”.
Comscore
NBCU will start transacting on Comscore for the first time ever across its 31 local markets, plus 42 NBCU- and Telemundo-owned stations, including six regional sports networks and Peacock inventory through NBCU Spot On.
Thus far, local TV ad buyers have had to persist with traditional age and gender targeting.
Comscore has a larger sample of US TV-viewing households and relies more extensively on passive return-path measurement, as opposed to panels, Abcarian says: “In today’s world, we’re measuring households at 1-in-2,000 households on average versus 1-in-3 households on comScore.”
Although originating in digital media measurement, it has been building out its TV capabilities since acquiring Rentrak in 2016, with 48-hour data availability.
Innovid
A year after it was launched as a new software suite to measure cross-screen viewing, InnovidXP is being picked by NBCU to power new impact and attribution metrics.
The partnership would give local marketers real-time access to outcome-based KPIs like website visits, allowing for better optimization of campaigns and leaning toward conversions.
“Our clients don’t buy ratings, they look to buy results,” Abcarian adds.
“InnovidXP is helping us to unify reach and frequency metrics as well as incrementality. So if you’re an auto advertiser and you’re wanting to understand, ‘How does this investment help lead to more website conversions or traffic visits, or dealership visits or drive tests?’, we can now provide those types of incrementality-lift metrics.”
Upfront reboot
This year’s TV upfronts events, at which networks tout their content and capabilities to secure year-ahead spending commitments, is expected to garner more sales than ever using new-wave measurement techniques and suppliers.
In 2021, NCU’s Abcarian issued a “request for proposals” (RFP) for alternatives. Later that year, NBCU issued the first version of its new measurement framework.
NBCUniversal is due to kick off the upfronts week on May 15 at Radio City Music Hall, New York City.
Early in the month, Warner Bros. Discover Ad Sales said it was partnering with 605, ABCS Insights, DISQO, EDO, LoopMe and Pilotly “to further demonstrate greater attribution and efficacy of advertising campaigns across its linear, digital and advanced audiences”, having already picked VideoAmp, iSpot.tv and Comscore for cross-screen measurement.