Agencies: Nielsen's Live-Plus-Same-Day May Inhibit Local TV Ad Dollars

Nielsen’s move to make the live-plus-same-day metric (LSD) the local TV currency may have pleased the broadcast clients that spend the most on local TV ratings, but it’s got the clients that spend the most in the medium up in arms. Several major buying shops are hoping to convince Nielsen to reverse its decision. GroupM is taking it a step further, contemplating legal action. Beginning in January, LSD will replace live in the metrics used for planning and buying local TV. In January 2009, Nielsen, which owns Mediaweek, added the live-plus-three-day metric. Major buying shops didn’t like that metric either, but they still had live for conducting business. In the case of LSD, media agencies have no choice. Nielsen is not providing live data in a form that can be used for buying and posting. Despite several months of conversations with both client groups and a monthlong client comment period in September, Nielsen’s move left agencies feeling left out in the cold. “I’ve never experienced such blatant disregard for a major customer,” said Rino Scanzoni, chief investment officer for GroupM and chairman of Mediaedge:cia. “They’re forcing a change in the currency, and we’re being held hostage.” A number of agencies and the 4A’s and the ANA also urged Nielsen not to abandon the live metric, but it likely will be. “Nielsen took a lot of time talking to everyone before we made this decision, and we are committed to it,” said a Nielsen representative.Nielsen’s analysis of viewing data supports the LSD metric. On average, 63 percent of playback occurs on the same day a program is recorded, and a significant amount of playback occurs within a very short period of time. “This reflects the change in viewing,” said Sabrina Crow, senior vp, managing director of client services for Nielsen. “We will continue to listen carefully and provide impact data…we’ll provide live data in other ways.”While broadcasters would like to monetize that extra viewing, agencies contend program ratings are an outdated concept. “We won’t pay for viewing that is timeshifted unless it’s for the commercials,” said John Spiropoulos, senior vp, director of marketplace analytics for MediaVest, who is looking at set-top-box data to fill in the gaps. “This leaves a big hole in the measurement and changes priorities on our side.”For a variety of technical and methodological reasons, Nielsen is unable to replicate on the local level the commercial ratings and the C3 metric it provides nationally. A recent analysis by Nielsen shows the LSD metric is closer (though higher) to the C3 measure in national, than live, which is lower than the C3 number.“[LSD] is as clean a measure as they can give us right now,” said David Poltrack, chief research officer for CBS. “And the gap between C3 and LSD is narrowing.”Broadcasters may find it will be tough to get agencies to pay rates based on the LSD metric. Both GroupM and Mediavest contend the change will bring fewer local dollars in the long run. “We’ll have to alert our clients that this [metric] diminishes the value of local TV,” said Lyle Schwartz, managing partner for GroupM. “It could force money out of the market.” It’s also the last thing local TV needs.

Brand Marketing

Agencies: Nielsen's Live-Plus-Same-Day May Inhibit Local TV Ad Dollars

Katy Bachman

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