Nielsen, a worldwide leader in audience measurement and analytics, and Roku, a leading TV streaming platform*, have announced an expansion of their longstanding strategic partnership. As a continuation of their existing relationship that has existed for a number of years, this latest phase of their collaboration will integrate Roku’s device level data with Nielsen’s campaign measurement and outcomes capabilities.
As streaming on Roku accounts for a total of more than 21% of total TV viewing*, the enhanced agreement enables advertisers to gain a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of viewer behavior across both linear TV viewing and streaming content. As a continued component of the multi-year agreement, Nielsen will continue the utilization of the extensive TV viewing data on the Roku platform as an input into its Big Data + Panel measurement approach. This is vital in enhancing the accuracy of Linear and Streaming Ratings on the Roku platform as well as the overall TV viewing experience.
The partnership further expands Roku’s engagement with Nielsen’s Streaming Platform Ratings, which provide a robust set of insights into consumer engagement with both subscription-based and ad-supported streaming platforms. “Almost seven in ten TV streaming hours are now ad-supported, and this is a big shift because advertising in streaming platforms is a big priority for advertisers,” said Nielsen. The significance of this statistic is especially notable as The Roku Channel, which is a free ad-supported streaming service, achieves rapid growth and becomes the No. 2 streaming app for share of ad-supported TV time.
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“This news underscores Nielsen’s continued leadership in innovation in audience measurement, especially in the area of streaming. In fact, today, there’s still no other streaming TV data source like Nielsen in the industry,” said Scott Bankier, Executive in Charge, Buy-Side, at Edison Research. “In terms of sheer volume, in total viewing, there’s just nothing like it.” In other words, “one trillion” of anyone’s viewing data “is plenty.”
“With our leadership in streaming measurement and now this data from Roku, we are providing the most accurate view of what audiences are watching on all of TV. And at Nielsen, we continue to observe a trend of growth in ad-supported streaming platforms—and The Roku Channel is leading this trend. This strategic partnership combines Nielsen’s strength and expertise in streaming measurement and Roku’s leadership position in the category to provide a solution that fits a critical need in our industry today: providing viewership insights and analytics that are needed by marketers to develop their brands and drive results,” said Ameneh Atai, General Manager of Audience Measurement at Nielsen.
“The expanded strategic partnership with Nielsen will serve to advance our vision for a better TV advertising experience, and that is all about interoperability and delivering performance. The combined power of Roku and Nielsen will propel streaming measurement to new heights and ensure that advertisers and publishers are able to leverage the best possible insights,” said Sarah Harms, Vice President of Marketing and Measurement at Roku. Through the combination of Roku’s scale and strength in the streaming arena with the expertise that Nielsen holds in the measurement aspect, the enhanced partnership clearly indicates the move towards accurate, interoperable, and outcomes-driven TV ad measurement.