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Nielsen Aims to Include Digital Audience by 2024

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Malcolm Denemark-Florida Today via Imagn

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Nielsen, the go-to provider for television ratings and viewership numbers, will revamp its system by 2024 to incorporate digital audiences as viewers flock to alternative options.

This will dramatically shift the way the TV advertising industry operates. 

The new measurement platform, Nielsen One, is expected to fully launch in the fourth quarter of 2022. Nielsen plans to secure adoption by ad agencies by the fall 2024 TV season but will preview aspects of the new system alongside its existing product in 2021 to ease the transition.

  • “I don’t think we can make a change of this magnitude that affects over $100 billion of trading without giving the market notice,” Nielsen CEO David Kenny said. 

The move is part of a big-picture plan to measure TV in the same way digital is measured. Nielsen ultimately wants to provide the ability to compare the metrics on the same ad that runs during a TV episode and anywhere on the internet.

In September, the company added “out-of-home” viewership to its reports. That includes viewers who are watching in bars, restaurants and workplaces, which is said to boost viewership by as much as 10% in some cases.

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