Nielsen will include Facebook, Hulu and YouTube in digital ratings
Data and measurement company Nielsen is to start crediting video content distributed on Facebook, Hulu and YouTube in its Digital Content Ratings, which is how it measures digital content consumption — including streaming video, static web pages and apps — across all major devices and platforms.
Nielsen will start including views from Facebook, YouTube and Hulu in its digital ratings.
Both TV and digital clients enabled for Digital Content Ratings will now be able to display viewership of their content across all platforms, including Facebook, Hulu and YouTube, and participating clients can capture incremental viewing of their content within their reported audience numbers.
Nielsen said this will allow publishers to better showcase the ways consumers watch digital content, as well as provide agencies and advertisers with data for more informed decision-making.
By including viewership of distributed content on three of the industry's largest digital platforms, publishers can demonstrate the breadth of their audiences, Nielsen said.
"The inclusion of video content distributed on Facebook, Hulu and YouTube in Nielsen Digital Content Ratings is a major accomplishment and part of our ongoing commitment to providing the industry with independent, comprehensive measurement of the evolving consumer landscape," said Megan Clarken, president of product leadership at Nielsen, in a statement. "Through capturing this audience, Nielsen is providing publishers, agencies and advertisers with a better picture of today's media consumption, with comparable metrics."
In a release, Edwin Wong, vice president of research and insights at BuzzFeed, said, “Much of our content is being missed by traditional measurement tools and Nielsen's Digital Content Ratings allow us to count content views and viewers across our owned and operated properties as well as Facebook and YouTube. With this new tool at our disposal we are able to have a clearer view of BuzzFeed's true reach.”
Mic President Jonathan Carson, too, said the inclusion of Facebook and YouTube consumption means a more complete picture of Mic’s audience, which, in turn, helps it better tailor news to viewers and better articulate the strength of its audience to brand partners.
Melissa Drucker, head of sales and brand partnerships at Tastemade, called it "an important step in overall measurement of mobile-first video” that will allow TV buyers to have even greater visibility into actual reach and engagement on major social platforms.
And Bart Boughton, senior vice president of revenue operations at Refinery29 said, “At Refinery29 we are constantly speaking to our global audience of young women across myriad platforms. In order to reach this audience in a way that integrates with her lifestyle, we create unique content native to each platform. Having the ability to quantify this engagement is critical. Using Nielsen Digital Content Ratings will not only further benefit our understanding of where our audience spends time, but also allows us to share this important information with our partners.”
Enabled publisher clients will be able to receive credit for video distributed on Facebook and YouTube in Nielsen's Digital Content Ratings. Hulu will provide select media partners with credit for current series content distributed on the platform, with data evaluation set to begin this month.