This story was originally published in Beet.TV. 

CANNES – Advertisers and their media agencies are keeping a close eye on the latest developments with measuring television audiences. They want metrics that accurately reflect viewership of linear and streaming platforms to help set the value of ad transactions, “currencies” in media industry parlance.

“The good news for the industry is that the focus on currency has improved — focus on better measurement, better quality measurement, more capabilities,” Kelly Metz, managing director of advanced TV activation at Omnicom Media, said in this interview at the Beet Villa during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. “What we’re trying to do is reorient the industry to totally new datasets that we have not transacted on before.”

TV ratings stalwart Nielsen is in the advanced stages of developing Nielsen One to provide a more comprehensive look at cross-platform media consumption. The company also is working to regain accreditation from the Media Rating Council, a measurement industry watchdog. Omnichannel measurement expands the range of data about people’s viewing habits.

“We’re moving away from basically making our decisions on a small panel to making our decision on data from millions of American households and what they’re doing,” Metz said. “The reason we’re doing this as an industry is because millions of those households no longer watch linear television in the ways they used to. They’re actually streaming far more content on demand.”

Need for Content Ratings

In addition to ratings for advertising, there is a need for content ratings, Metz said. Content ratings provide a more holistic view of the media landscape, according to Nielsen’s website.

“I need the ads dataset because I want to do attribution. I want to get to outcomes,” Metz said, “but I don’t want to ignore the value of the content viewership. And what we’re not seeing is any capability being grown on the streaming side for content viewership and mass.”