It’s not enough to drive outcomes—you need to own the phrase conceptually. That brings us to yesterday’s announcement from Nielsen, which has launched an Outcomes Marketplace.
Essentially, Nielsen is making a group of partner measurement capabilities available through Nielsen ONE, the company’s a cross-media measurement solution, covering “key brand, sales, attention, and conversion metrics.” This marks the first time Nielsen is bringing together these proxies in an effort to present a holistic view of whether ads are actually performing.
The first partner in the Outcomes Marketplace is Realeyes, an attention measurement company that uses AI to analyze expressions and emotional responses to ads and ad creative based on opted in face and voice data.
Why This Matters:
Is the economy good? Bad? It depends on who you ask—and what day of the week it is, to be honest. But broadly, brands and marketers are being cautious with their ad dollars, which is making performance and outcomes more important than ever. Just in May, for example, we saw a survey saying over half of all marketers will be cutting spend this year. The dollars that are being spent, of course, will need to work harder.
Marketers are also getting savvier and demanding real data on real performance. The Outcomes Marketplace aims to deliver just that for TV, giving Nielsen a new angle beyond its traditional reach and frequency metrics.
Experts React:
Here’s what Mihkel Jäätma, CEO of Realeyes, said: “All ad impressions are not equal.” He added that the Outcomes Marketplace “will allow even more accessibility for brands to better understand consumer response to advertising.”
Nichole Henderson, GM of Global Campaign Analytics at Nielsen, said the marketplace is “one more way Nielsen is powering the future of measurement.”
Our Take:
Outcomes are in. But here’s a thought—there’s increasing fragmentation among outcome-focused providers. Candidly, at some point you have to wonder whether M&A activity ramps up and we see a consolidation of these tools and solutions. Could Nielsen eventually turn its Outcomes Marketplace into an M&A testing ground? Who knows. But it’s clear that outcomes—and the companies enabling them—are only getting hotter.
