Google, Nielsen Forge Strategic Partnership

Nielsen To Supply Google With Demographic Info on TV Advertising

By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 10/23/2007 9:01:00 PM

Nielsen Co. will be providing Google with demographic information on exactly who is watching the TV advertising that the online giant is selling for EchoStar Communications, officials said Wednesday.

Google and Nielsen announced that they have entered into a multi-year strategic relationship, and in the first step of that arrangement, the ratings company will use its expertise in TV-audience measurement to bring demographic data to Google TV Ads, an online platform for buying, selling, measuring and delivering television ads.

Right now, Google is handling ad sales for a good portion of EchoStar’s ad inventory, but it is looking for other partners to sell advertising for, as well.

Data derived from Nielsen’s representative TV ratings panels will provide Google TV Ads advertisers with the demographic composition of their audiences watching spots on EchoStar’s direct-broadcast satellite service, Dish Network.

By combining Nielsen demographic data with aggregated set-top box data, Google plans to provide advertisers and agencies with comprehensive information to help them create better commercials for viewers and maximize the return on their advertising spending.

Back in April, Google and EchoStar said that they were participating in a trial to use an auction system to sell local ad inventory on Dish Network.

Google is now selling advertising across 94 networks carried by Dish Network, as well as selling avails for a small cable operator which is testing the ad system -- Wave Cable in Walnut Creek, Calif., according to Mike Steib, director of Google TV Ads.

“We have millions of set-top boxes that belong to EchoStar from which EchoStar is pulling data and is providing it to us for the Google TV Ad system: It’s a lot of data points,” Steib said.

“One of the things we haven’t been able to provide to our advertisers to date, when we report back the very next day the impressions that they’ve received from the set-top boxes, we have not yet reported demographics and audience composition,” he said. “We are now going to be able to make that information available to our advertisers.”  

The Google TV Ads platform, which has been operational since May, includes advertising inventory across all day parts. A key benefit of Google TV Ads is the ability to report second-by-second set-top box data so advertisers can evaluate the reach of an ad and only pay for actual set-top box impressions.

Advertisers can better understand exactly how their ad is performing and make near real-time changes to their TV advertising campaigns to deliver better ads to viewers, according to Google. 

Google is trying to expand its efforts to sell TV ad time for more companies that just Dish Network.

“We’re actively in discussions with a number of media companies about adding inventory to our television ad network,” Steib said.

So far, Google has been working with a wide variety of sponsors and ad agencies to sell TV spots on Dish Network.

“We’re working with advertisers that range from some of the Top 10 or so advertisers in television all the way to new advertisers who have come to television as a result of working with Google,” Steib said.

Through its online ad-sales systems, Google believes that “by applying computer science like this, we can help make television ads more relevant to viewers,” according to Steib.

“If we do that by applying better technology, and by creating a better measurement-feedback loop for the people who buy that inventory, we can make the commercial inventory more valuable, we can make the return on investment higher for advertisers and provide agencies with tools to really serve their clients in new and exciting ways,” he said.

Google and Nielsen claim that as a result of their new partnership, this is the first time that advertisers and agencies will have such a level of detailed measurement available in a single place and at such a large scale. This information is available through the existing Google AdWords report center.

“As we continue to expand our TV advertising program, it is important that we provide advertisers and agencies with data that will help them reach their target demographic with the right ad,” Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a prepared statement. “Working closely with Nielsen, the industry leader, improves our measurement capabilities by adding a demographic layer on top of existing set-top box data. We’re pleased that Nielsen is working with us in this endeavor.”

Moving forward, Google and Nielsen will explore a number of other opportunities to work together to measure online and other media, the companies said in a press release. Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.