NBCU Anoints iSpot, Sinclair’s Hoop Dreams Come True

1. NBCU Anoints iSpot

In yet another sign that the Great Wall of Nielsen is cracking, NCBU announced the initial winner from the massive RFP it put out last year to find alternative measurement partners, naming iSpot as the first of its Certified Measurement Partners.  

iSpot will start the multi-year agreement by providing metrics for NBCU’s Winter Olympics coverage including a dashboard that helps advertisers see their reach on linear and digital by noon the following day.

Why It Matters

It’s great that NBCU is looking at alternative forms of measurement and they’ve done an incredible job of due diligence to find the right partners.

But what really matters here can be found in a quote that NBCU’s Kelly Abcarian gave to the Wall Street Journal.

[Next-day reporting] puts us on a level playing field with digital, who is able to create next-day insights for advertisers.

And the point she makes here is so very important. You see, the enemy is not Viacom, Disney, Warner or even Netflix or Roku.

The enemy is digital.

This is something the industry needs to come to terms with if it ever hopes to straighten out the current measurement mess which extends far beyond whether big network groups do or don’t use Nielsen and into things like identity resolution and the persistence of walled gardens.

TPTB need to remember that digital (and by that I mean display and mobile) solves the eternal problem with advertising as laid out in the apocryphal John Wanamaker quote “I know that half the money I spend on advertising is being wasted. I just don’t know which half.”

Digital solves that problem. With brightly colored charts and graphs that show exactly who saw the ad, when and where and what they did next. 

No guessing, no extrapolating.

And when you are a cog in a wheel at a big brand and you need to justify a $300MM ad buy to the C-suite, then those brightly colored charts sure do come in handy.

Even if you know, in your heart of hearts, that hardly anyone ever clicks on a mobile ad on purpose and that last click attribution is largely a farce in that no one is buying a BMW, let alone a new set of coffee mugs because they saw a single banner ad.

So there’s that and to hammer in Abcarian’s point, TV needs to be able to create its own brightly colored charts, which is only going to happen when there is more data.

And iSpot is going to give NBCU a lot more data.

From the press release: “[B]rands advertising with NBCU will gain access to real-time airing data for linear, streaming and time-shifted viewing, and receive comprehensive reports on a next-day basis that include metrics such as verified ad impressions, reach and frequency, linear and streaming overlap and incrementality. Measurement will be provided at the household level as well as at the person level for age/gender demos and/or for customized audience segments. Further, select NBCU advertisers will have access to impact measurements including granular attention and interruption rates, business-outcome reporting and creative performance that includes pre-testing and brand-lift analysis.”

That’s a whole lot of brightly colored charts.

Which is not to say that big brands will be breaking out into Zoom conga lines upon hearing this news.

If there was one thing they liked about Nielsen ratings, it’s that they were easy. Everyone used them, there was data going back decades and it made for easy apples-to-apples comparisons.

The “easy” piece is definitely missing on digital where The Companies Formerly Known As Facebook and Google maintain an army of third party measurement partners, all of whom do things slightly differently. Which means brand managers often have to trust their more digitally savvy employees that the apples are indeed being compared to other apples and not to oranges.

Fortunately most advertisers have realized, two decades into the twenty-first century, that the world of just three broadcast networks is long gone and that TV measurement is simultaneously more complicated and more accurate.

That said, there will still be some who maintain their nostalgia for temps perdu and the accompanying headwinds and the reluctance to give up Nielsen and its One Currency For All style of measurement that are sure to come along with it.

What You Need To Do About It

If you’re NBCU, take a bow. Kelly Abcarian, Linda Yaccarino and team have done a stellar job of due diligence, creating a detailed RFP that the industry’s been talking about (in a good way) for months and spurring other networks to action. They’ve really helped to push things ahead and for that we should all be grateful.

If you’re an advertiser, it’s time to get on what’s being dubbed the “alt currency” bandwagon. Better and more granular metrics are going to make your TV ad buys far more effective, while having zero impact on your ability to make apples to apples comparisons.

Similarly, if your response is, “I only care about reach. Our audience is everyone and I want to reach as many people as possible with our branding message”--that’s an even better reason to look at more granular TV measurement as it will only ensure that the buy you do make is that much more effective.

If you’re a linear TV network, you need to think about cooperating with your peers. The more you can share or at least pool your data, the happier brands are going to be as that makes life easier for them.

Ditto the smart TV OEMs and your ACR data. As set top boxes fade into the sunset, measurement is going to be all ACR so you can afford to be a bit generous here. 

Get TVREV’s new report on ACR data. 

If you’re an industry observer, don’t write Nielsen off just yet. They’re testing out all sorts of new methodology with Disney and having them in the mix makes it easier to get buy-in from brands who want reassurance that the old world hasn’t completely gone away. That said, their prior trespasses have cost all of the various networks millions, so don’t be surprised either if that door is no longer open.

2. Sinclair’s Hoop Dreams Come True

When we last looked in on Sinclair, their plans to launch a series of streaming apps for their RSNs (Regional Sports Networks) appeared to be on the rocks as MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred had just announced that Sinclair did not have rights to stream any of the league’s games.

But this week comes confirmation that not only did Sinclair secure rights to stream the NBA games its RSNs had broadcast rights to, they’d secured a similar deal with the NHL and lined up an additional $600 million in financing.

Game on!

Why It Matters

It is a widely-held belief that RSNs are one of the only reasons many viewers continue to subscribe to traditional pay TV.

RSN viewers are different from ESPN viewers in that they are fans of a particular team rather than the sport in general (though there is much overlap.) So while an ESPN fan will happily watch any basketball game featuring two well-matched teams, an RSN fan will happily watch any basketball game featuring the Los Angeles Lakers (or whatever team they are a fan of.)

Better still, they’re happy to pay for that privilege, which is good news for Sinclair given how expensive the rights to broadcast these games are.

Sinclair got a major reality check a year or so back when the two largest vMVPDs—Hulu LIve TV and YouTube TV—decided to stop carrying their RSNs because they were too expensive. That left traditional MVPDs, all of whom were getting antsy about how much those RSNs added to their customers’ monthly bills.

In the old days, RSNs had the negotiating advantage because consumers would frequently choose an MVPD based on whether they carried the local RSN. That meant they could force the MVPDs to include the RSN in their most popular tiers.

That’s not the case anymore and Sinclair seemed to get that they would be relegated to Add-On Tier status as their various MVPD contracts were renewed.

Thus, they cleverly teamed up with Ballys for their RSNs, which allowed them to introduce sports betting into the mix, which then allowed them to bring the cost of their streaming RSN apps down to somewhere around $25/month..

The launch of these apps—especially if they are well done and develop some buzz— is likely to encourage more fans to give up their traditional pay TV service. (Sinclair has rights to 16 NBA teams, 12 NHL teams and 14 MLB teams.)

They will also likely bring in younger fans by providing a range of interactive options from live stats and alternative camera angles to fantasy leagues and, of course, betting.

It’s a whole new ball game.

What You Need To Do About It

If you’re the NBA, take a bow. The future is streaming and by allowing Sinclair to set up these apps you are enabling a new generation of fans, affirming your reputation for being the most forward-thinking of the leagues. 

If you’re Sinclair—well done on all angles and for being the pioneers in this field.

If you’re Rob Manfred, maybe it’s time to rethink that unconditional “no.”

If you’re an MVPD, remember that there are still a whole lot of RSN viewers (e.g., most) who are not going to give up your pay TV service just because they have the option to watch via a streaming app. Something to keep in mind as you renegotiate your carriage deals with Sinclair.

If you’re one of the smart TV OEMs, you should jump at the chance to add these new RSN apps and then promote them heavily. I suspect doing so will get a whole bunch of viewers to give your interface and operating system a second look. Or maybe even a first one.

Finally, if you’re a sports fan, rejoice. This is very good news for all of us.