As one of Europe’s leading operators and a world leader in converged broadband, video and mobile communications, Liberty Global needed an entertainment metadata powerhouse to help create its next-generation entertainment platform, Horizon 4, as it rolled out across 85 million subscribers. Nielsen’s Gracenote first partnered on metadata for Liberty Global’s UK business, Virgin Media, in 2010, and has gone on to power metadata solutions across the operator’s markets, completing its support for Horizon 4 in early 2023. 

Download the case study to learn how Liberty Global and Gracenote are aggregating metadata to deliver the next chapter in immersive, content-led visual experiences. 

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There is no shortchanging the complexity of today’s media industry, or the impact that the ever-expanding range of choice has on effective cross-media measurement. That complexity, however, doesn’t grant marketers any leeway when it comes to delivering on business objectives. In reality, we know that increased complexity simply amplifies accountability.

And managing complexity isn’t enough. Marketers need to find ways to keep things simple, streamlined and clear—oftentimes with reduced budgets and fewer resources. Marketers are on the hook to deliver for their businesses and justify their investments along the way. In that way, the complexity of today’s media landscape has become both a unique and a universal challenge.

The proliferation and growth of new media channels presents one of the most pressing difficulties in the quest for effective cross-media measurement, especially as audiences increase their connected TV (CTV)¹ usage, which provides access to streaming services. Streaming may be the most top-of-mind today, but the future of cross-media measurement will need to be adaptive to many new channels as they emerge.

Today, however, marketers know that streaming is where the audience is, and they’re adjusting their marketing plans accordingly. In fact, the survey supporting the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report found that 45% of ad budgets globally, on average, are shifting to CTV channels. The flipside, however, is that marketers don’t yet see the value in their CTV spending, as only 49% of marketers say CTV is either very or extremely effective.

Given the appeal of streaming with audiences, it makes sense that marketers are leaning in—even though the perceived effectiveness is currently low. When any new channel gains audiences, marketers need to balance between spending where they know the audience is and the risk associated with learning what they need to know to prove their investment there.

But measuring audiences across the streaming landscape won’t be marketers’ last hurdle. It’s simply the one they’re facing now. Widespread connectivity will continue opening the doors to new options, all of which will have their own measurement needs. That’s where the real cross-media measurement challenge is.

Tools and solutions that measure engagement at the channel level have never been able to provide marketers with a holistic view of how individual people are engaging across all channels. Historically, the road to cross-media measurement has relied on marketers’ ability to aggregate channel measurement and then surmise what a complete consumer journey looked like. Channel proliferation and increasing privacy regulations make that an increasingly tall order, and sentiment from global marketers reflects the increasing difficulty: Only 50%, on average, say they’re extremely or very confident in their ability to measure for full-funnel ROI across channels.

Confidence aside, marketers know they need to address the challenge, as 71% overwhelmingly acknowledge the importance of arriving at a single view of audience engagement across channels (i.e., comparable, deduplicated measurement).

If marketers truly desire that single view of audience engagement across every touchpoint, they’ll need to abandon any tool or solution that isn’t complementary from a data perspective. Marketers should consider leveraging as few tools as possible to arrive at that single view of audience engagement. Undoubtedly, a shift like this could be unsettling for many. But as marketing dollars span an increasing number of channels, disparate datasets from channel-specific tools will require an increasing amount of manual reconciling.

With confidence in arriving at full-funnel ROI measurement at relatively low levels today, an increasingly rich media landscape in the years ahead suggests the need for transformative thinking based on data and solutions that are both trusted and channel agnostic. With audiences adding and seamlessly switching from channel to channel, it makes sense that measurement should be able to do the same.

For additional insight, download the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report.

Note

Connected TV (CTV) refers to any television that is connected to the internet. The most common use case is to stream video content.

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Marketers aren’t confident in channel-level measurement

Across traditional and digital media, marketers have 15 different channels¹ at their disposal. Despite this fragmentation, just under 70% of the global marketers surveyed for the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report believe they have the right marketing technology to measure the aggregate returns on their investment. The flipside, however, is that their stated confidence in ROI measurement at the individual channel level is much lower—which stands in stark contrast to their full-funnel marketing confidence.

The gap between holistic and channel-level confidence highlights a primary flaw in leveraging channel-specific marketing tools to assess overall marketing effectiveness. Arriving at a single metric for reach and frequency across channels is incredibly difficult, and sentiment from global marketers underscores the inherent complexities, especially across many of the digital channels that marketers are investing more in.

Even when believing in their martech, global marketers acknowledge the problem, with only 54%, on average, expressing confidence in their full-funnel media measurement capabilities (i.e., end-to-end measurement). Confidence is slightly higher in EMEA and slightly lower in Asia-Pacific.

Given the challenges associated with cross-media ROI measurement, such as quality audience data and reduced use of existing marketing technology, 52% of global marketers, on average, are currently solely focused on reach and frequency metrics.

Multiple tools widen process gaps and information silos

To keep up with the growing media options, many marketers report using an array of tools and solutions to measure their campaign performance. This isn’t surprising, but it can complicate the road to holistic measurement. The more tools you work with, the more datasets your systems—and people—have to be ready to ingest. And each one takes time. Add to that the historically different methodologies for linear and digital measurement and it’s clear to see the need and difficulty of arriving at comparable, deduplicated metrics. Globally, 62% of marketers, on average, use multiple measurement tools for their cross-media measurement. Comparatively, just 34% report using one.

Globally, marketers know how important comparable metrics are in understanding the effectiveness of their ad spending. Amid an increasingly rich media landscape that will continue to offer new experiences in the years ahead, marketers should consider tools, solutions and metrics that are media-agnostic to achieve their long-term measurement—and business—objectives. Without a comprehensive view of the audience, marketers won’t have a complete view of campaign performance.

For additional insights, download the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report.

Note

¹ Traditional: Radio, linear TV, print, direct mail, OOH, cinema. Digital: Email, search, social media, podcast, digital display, digital video, OTT/CTV, streaming audio, native ads.

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To do their jobs, marketers need information that’s representative of people, not devices or digital signals. However, only 23% of the marketers surveyed for Nielsen’s 2023 Annual Marketing Report strongly agree that they have the quality audience data they need to get the most out of their media budgets. In Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it drops to 21%.

Well aware of how audiences are engaging with media, marketers continue increasing their spending across digital channels, especially CTV, social media and digital video. Without quality audience data, however, many will lack insight into whether they’re reaching the right audiences—the primary cross-media measurement metric of 52% of marketers surveyed for Nielsen’s 2023 Annual Marketing Report. And when we look at where audiences are spending most of their time, time with digital channels continues to grow. 

In fourth-quarter 2022, for example, U.S. audiences spent an average of five hours and 13 minutes per day² accessing media with their digital devices³, accounting for more than 52% of their daily time with media.

The incredible growth of streaming use adds yet another set of data to the cross-media scenario, and some companies are using the data from smart TVs for measurement purposes. There is no discounting the importance of this data, but by itself, this data only tells us what’s on the screen. Without knowing who’s engaged with what’s on the screen, marketers don’t have ample information to make critical ad spending decisions. In fact, a Nielsen study conducted at the end of 2022 illustrates the shortcomings of smart TV data as a measurement source. In short, smart TV data can’t accurately tell you how many are watching. 

When combined with information that details representative, person-level behavior, smart TV data sets provide significant scale to the science of audience measurement. Importantly, the World Federation of Advertisers, the Association of National Advertisers and the comparable organizations in over 30 other nations believe the future of audience measurement should include a combination of quality panels and big data.

The customer has always been the North Star for marketers, and the growing number of media options doesn’t change that. It does, however, place increasing pressure on marketers’ ability to engage with them, especially when there’s a gap between digital signals and actual people. Bridging that gap will be critical as device and channel fragmentation increase. The lack of demographic information in big data highlights the importance of representative, person-level behavior in any measurement solution. After all, without the audience, it’s just data.

For additional insight, download the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report.

Notes

1. World Population Prospects Report
2. Nielsen National TV Panel
3. Connected TV devices, internet on a computer, app/web use via smartphone, app/web use via tablet

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When it comes to brand lift benchmarks like awareness and purchase intent, recall is even slightly more important than a person’s baseline awareness for a brand. In looking at the five key drivers and baseline awareness, brand recall influences 38.7% of brand lift in emerging media; baseline awareness comes in second at 37.5%.

The value of tracking brand recall in emerging channels

Understanding the importance of brand recall in emerging media channels comes at an important time, as global marketers continue to increase their ad spending across digital channels, with social media, native advertising and podcasts leading the way. According to the global survey Nielsen fielded to support our 2023 Annual Marketing Report, global marketers plan to increase their spending across these three media types as follows:

• Social media: 59% planned increase
• Native advertising: 48% planned increase
• Podcasts: 38% planned increase

These planned increases reflect growing audience engagement with digital channels and the fact that global marketers continue to focus on brand awareness and new customer acquisition—a trend that we’ve seen hold steady in each of the annual marketing reports that Nielsen has produced since 2020.

Emerging media’s role in driving overall brand lift

For brands, leveraging these emerging marketing channels can be a gamechanger when the goal is raising awareness. Advertisements in podcasts, for example, have the potential to boost brand awareness by 13 percentage points¹. From a brand awareness perspective, podcast advertising touts an aided recall rate of 71%, significantly higher than the 50% associated with people who aren’t exposed to an ad.

Podcasts, like influencers, offer brands the opportunity to convey their messages through an industry voice instead of their own, which speaks to the uniqueness of these channels. From a brand awareness standpoint, however, Nielsen Podcast Ad Effectiveness data shows that host-read ads perform just slightly better than non-host-read ads. Within the podcast space, host-read ads have a bigger impact in mid- and lower-funnel activations.

Influencer marketing and branded content present similar opportunity, as they have the potential to improve brand awareness by nine and 10 percentage points², respectively. From a brand awareness perspective, influencer marketing boasts an aided recall rate of 79%, notably higher than the 62% unaided recall rate. Similarly, branded content touts an aided recall rate of 81%, significantly higher than the 63% unaided recall rate.

Despite the economic headwinds at the start of the year, nearly 70% of the global marketers surveyed for this year’s annual marketing report expect their budgets to increase. And with a focus on awareness and customer acquisition, marketers are focused on channels that are attracting larger audiences. In the U.S. for example, marketers spent $43.1 billion³ on social media last year, up from just $20.6 billion a year earlier. By tracking brand recall performance, you’re setting up the rest of your funnel up for success. And by understanding emerging media’s role in delivering brand recall and overall brand lift, you have a sharper sense of how to widen your mix and use each channel to their best advantage.

For additional insights, download our 2023 Brand Lift Report: Building Brands with Emerging Media.

Notes

 ¹ Nielsen podcast brand impact norms database, Q4 2022
 ² Nielsen branded content impact norms database, 2018-2022
 ³ Nielsen Ad Intel

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Environmental drivers are outside of a marketer’s control and are market-specific—like competitive landscape and consumer dynamics—but they nevertheless have an impact on ad performance. Look to these drivers of ROI to unlock insights that can lift performance.

Top Environmental ROI drivers

Brand size and category dynamics
The larger the brand and the larger the category, the more opportunity there is to drive incremental purchase through effective marketing and media. In fact, Nielsen Compass data has found large brands typically have media ROIs that are about 3.5X those of small brands.

For marketers managing small brands this means that, while bigger brands will have an advantage, there is also tremendous value in investing in the growth of smaller brands, as ROIs will grow in line with the brand.

Other aspects to consider are the level of competitive activity (media landscape) and elasticity of consumption (consumer demand), both of which can impact cost and ROI. Highly-competitive categories, for example, might produce lower ROI since there is more competition for the same volume, driving up costs. Categories with inelastic consumption, or a more fixed consumer demand, like durables or toilet paper, face similar struggles in crowded markets. On the other hand, more elastic categories like snacks or beverages provide opportunities for increased consumer demand and, in turn, increased sales and higher ROI.

Media environment dynamics
While marketers can do things to manage cost in terms of channel optimization, variations in media cost by geographic market can throw a wrench into even the most carefully-planned budget. Media channel penetration, effectiveness and even consumer viewing preferences can vary from market to market, all affecting media cost and potential returns.

The average cost per impression in some markets, for instance, can be up to 7X higher than other markets for the exact same tactic¹. And in markets with heavy viewership on ad-free platforms, average costs for advertising can surge substantially due to limited supply.

Market Economic Opportunity
ROI can also be impacted by the economic opportunity afforded by a particular geographic location. Countries with larger populations, higher gross domestic product (GDP) and lower unemployment are more likely to produce higher ROIs. For example, the U.S. is one of only 17 countries with a GDP of $1 trillion or more, and when combined with an unemployment rate below 5%, ROI potential is higher in the U.S. than in regions that have smaller economies or higher unemployment. Importantly, the magnitude of difference in these metrics will impact potential returns from market to market. So, while the U.S. and Indonesia both have GDP over $1 trillion, the U.S. economy is more than 19X larger, which is a significant difference when measuring ad spend impact.

Understanding the impact that environmental ROI drivers have and properly accounting for that leads to more accurate ROI estimates. Nielsen predictive ROI (PROI) data found that data-driven predictions were up to 65% more accurate than using norms and benchmarks alone.

Because environmental ROI drivers change from market to market, accounting for their impact when predicting outcomes—and accurately measuring campaign performance—are critical for advertisers. Those able to identify top ROI drivers for their markets and adjust ad spend accordingly see impressive results. The Nielsen Compass Database shows that top markets can have returns that are 3-6X higher than bottom markets for the same tactic, and at the regional level, the difference between a high and low performing region can be up to 85%.

Notes:

1. Nielsen Compass database

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The Nielsen Compass Database shows a significant difference in return on advertising spend by market and region. Top markets can have returns that are 3-6X higher than bottom markets for the same tactic, and at the regional level, the difference between a high and low performing region can be up to 85%.

In general, ROI drivers fall into two categories: executional and environmental. Executional ROI drivers are what marketers can do to optimize ad performance through data-driven decision-making, like budget planning, media channel allocation and in-flight campaign optimization. Environmental factors are the market-specific drivers, like competitive landscape and consumer habits, outside of a marketer’s control that nevertheless have an impact on ad performance. 

With so much variation in media effectiveness across situations, marketers need to understand major drivers of ROI at the market level to unlock insights that can lift performance. 

Top executional ROI drivers

Media planning excellence 

Every successful media campaign starts with a solid foundation. Media planning and strategy are essential elements in any campaign, but many marketers fail to realize the impact planning can have on ROI outcomes. Balancing the amount of media support needed with cost and reach is tricky, but brands that are able to dial in optimal levels for each will maximize return on ad spend while lowering overall media costs. 

Amount 
When it comes to ad spend, most marketers are erring on the side of caution, and timidity is limiting ROI opportunities. A Nielsen study of media plans found that only 25% of channel-level investments were too high to maximize ROI, and within this group, the median overspend amount was 32%. And while reducing spend would improve channel ROI by a modest 4%, brands would also see significantly reduced sales volume due to a drop in ad-driven sales.

Underspending, on the other hand, is a significant challenge. Nielsen’s 2022 ROI Report found that 50% of planned media channel investments were too low to achieve maximum ROI. The median underinvestment level was 52%—a large gap that most brands won’t be able to close in a single planning cycle. But brands that do close the gap can improve ROI by a median of 50.3%.

Cost
When it comes to minimizing cost, it’s not as simple as choosing the least-expensive media channels, as there is often variation on both cost and performance within even a single channel. Digital video, for example, has a typical range of variation in cost of about 2-3X within a country, according to Nielsen data.

If a premium digital video ad is more expensive than a non-premium ad, for example, but the premium ad has a greater positive impact on ROI, then the higher upfront cost is money well spent. To determine which channels provide the best value and drive the most ROI per market, advertisers need to be able to measure and attribute ROI granulary, so they can optimize channels and tactics for each region.

Targeting
Getting your ad in front of the most receptive audience is critical.  Reach and audience composition metrics don’t just help marketers understand who they’re reaching, they can also help them drive better sales outcomes. 

A recent analysis using Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings found that ad partners that served fewer ads to their target audience saw an average ROI of $0.25 per $1 spend, while those who delivered more ads to their target audience realized an average ROI of $2.60 per $1 spent. 

Messaging and creative excellence

In a media landscape where consumers have more choices than ever before, staying top-of-mind with consumers often comes down to creative excellence. According to a recent Nielsen study commissioned by Google, ads perform best when they draw attention, feature the brand, connect personally with audiences and direct them to take action. Campaigns that delivered ads following those principles saw a 30% higher sales lift than those that didn’t. And the more message and platform testing a brand does will likely increase positive returns.

The complexity of executional ROI drivers and how they change from brand to brand and channel to channel make it critical for advertisers to be able to customize their media plans to their unique situations. And with so many factors affecting campaign execution, the more customization of inputs that marketers consider, the more accurate their ROI projections can be. In fact, Nielsen predictive ROI (PROI) data found that data-driven predictions were up to 65% more accurate than using norms and benchmarks alone.

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Just as each of Japan’s prefectures are unique, their markets come with distinct opportunities and challenges that advertisers need to navigate to achieve marketing success. So, is your marketing mix accounting for these differences? In this special collaborative report between Nielsen, Google and Meta on Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM), we bring to you an in-depth analysis of 19 Nielsen models from Japan to showcase how regional-level data compares to national-level data. The report details:

• Why gathering the right level of data is key
• The correlation between data granularity and forecasting accuracy
• How a more precise MMM model can help you make better marketing decisions across different markets.

This report is available in English and Japanese. To download the report in your preferred language, toggle the language option in the main menu.

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The importance of brand awareness and new customer acquisition elevated this year among the marketers surveyed for Nielsen’s 2022 Annual Marketing Report, but there isn’t a marketer on the planet who’s not laser focused on growing their return on investment (ROI). For media sellers, increasing competition—both within specific channels and in adjacent channels—has never been higher, which adds new layers of nuance on the road to finding new growth.

Historically, media sellers have relied on two proven strategies to boost their returns:

• Acquire more of the advertising dollars being spent (e.g., gain share)
• Raise the price of their advertising (e.g., boost CPMs)

Both options require media owners to prove the attractiveness of their media, which is critical in proper ad pricing and securing a greater portion of the ad dollars being spent. 

In an ideal world, sellers would seek to grow—in perpetuity—through a combination of both strategies. The circumstances where that’s feasible, however, are few and far between. So, when considering these two options, sellers should start by assessing how their media is faring with respect to other options, and not just those within the same channel or those that are most comparable.

For example, a media owner’s television ads might be outperforming industry benchmarks, but sellers can’t afford to think too narrowly when evaluating channel and platform effectiveness. Case in point, TV remains a dominant channel for advertising, but ROI from TV has been in decline over the past two or three years. This suggests that while buyers and sellers continue to view TV favorably, the channel may be facing pricing pressure as other options drive better results.

Comparatively, paid ads on social media deliver 1.7x the short-term ROI globally of TV even though brands are spending two-thirds less on them. Given the higher ROI, social media has pricing power, allowing sellers to justifiably increase CPMs. No decisions, however, should be made based on aggregated data. ROI performance varies by market and subchannel, and the best way to maximize success is to invest in the granularity that provides case-specific guidance.

In addition to assessing channel and platform performance, media sellers should be mindful that many buyers aren’t spending enough to break through. Said differently, advertisers may pull back on spending simply because they aren’t achieving the returns they’re looking for. But when we look at data from a cross-channel analysis of planned media spending, we can see that 50% of planned investments are too low to be effective. This presents an opportunity for sellers.

Globally, the prevalence of underspending is significant. Among those that are underinvesting, the median under-investment is 52%. This gap might be too big to close in a single planning session, but those that do have the opportunity to improve their ROI by a median of 50.3%. Armed with this data, which supports higher spending, media sellers are better positioned to help advertisers and media buyers allocate their spending to better achieve their desired returns.

In thinking about advertiser ROI, media owners should be thinking about validating the effectiveness of their platforms and channels for both short- and long-term strategies. Measuring the impact of their media for both is critical, simply because channels aren’t usually able to deliver on both objectives. According to Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Models, channels deliver on both revenue and brand metrics just 36% of the time.

Driving sales and awareness is important to clients, and performance for driving brand awareness and conversion will affect how advertisers value media. Helping clients understand that channels don’t typically deliver on both may provide sellers with twice the opportunity to prove value and retain—even grow—spend from clients. 

Along these lines, sellers that only measure the impact of one business strategy may find themselves below average in that one measurement. Comparatively, media sellers that measure for both brand awareness and sales will be more likely to see a positive story most of the time. 

Globally, the importance of measuring for both objectives is highest in the Americas, where channels deliver above-average results on both objectives just 20% of the time. Comparatively, in Asia-Pacific, the percentage is much higher at 42%. When sellers measure the impact of their media on brand and sales outcomes, they’re best positioned to mitigate disappointing results from singularly focused measurement.

While many marketers are leaning into measurement tools to inform their channel and mix allotments, media owners can tap into ROI data to assess the attractiveness of their media and best position it from a pricing and ad share perspective. With an understanding about which platforms and channels deliver on the short- and long-term goals of advertisers, sellers have twice the opportunity to showcase the value and attractiveness of their media.

The post In the search for growth, what’s a media seller to do? appeared first on Nielsen.

Media measurement has never been easy. But now, as the world braces for economic turbulence ahead, marketers must double down on budgeting and measurement strategies that perform under pressure and continue to grow both brand & sales sustainably. In this webinar, Nielsen’s VP of Strategic Insights, Imran Hirani unpacks insights from over 150,000 global studies to determine what’s really driving media ROI. 

Watch the webinar to learn:

• How to optimize media budgets
• The key to determining the right channel mix
• How to overcome measurement hurdles

For additional insights, download our 2022 ROI Report.

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