By acquiring recently bankrupt Sorenson Media, Nielsen positions itself to scale and improve upon addressable TV. Nielsen is aiming to improve the value and efficiency across the media chain, from placement to reporting, with this new acquisition and their soon to be launched advanced video advertising group.

Historically, Nielsen has measured household TV viewing and demographics within the household. Traditionally, we have used ratings as the currency for media buying. That said, there is a gap between the measurement tool and the consumer in that model. Advertisers buy a number of rating points that buy some percentage of the demographics, and all the messages that go out to the audience within that given demographic segment are the same. This new and current model allows for direct to end user via on-demand, OTT, and connected TV devices. This also provides for more granular targeting beyond age and gender of traditional demographics. This acquisition moves the industry closer to being able to address specific households through addressable TV, not just by demos and other buying characteristics, plus provide measurement.

It is estimated that there will be 250 million smart TVs by the year 2023. CEO of Nielsen, David Kenny, said “With the continued evolution of our Total Audience measurement…it was evident that we needed to bring our unique set of technology assets and talent to tackle the greatest challenges the TV advertising industry is facing.” We are excited to see how Nielsen does with these new changes moving forward!

Read the full article on AdAge.