Planning & Buying Insider: Nielsen’s New ‘Outcomes Marketplace’

Nielsen has long been known for counting the number of people who watch TV shows and the commercials that accompany them. Now it hopes to be recognized for helping advertisers determine whether their spots actually spurred a consumer to make a purchase or similar decision tied to sales.

Reach and frequency are no longer enough in the TV data business, even for Nielsen, the long-time leader in estimating how many viewers watched a particular program. With giant digital platforms like Google, Amazon and Facebook providing information about which ad drew clicks, generated requests for more information and led to online sales, advertisers are demanding similar metrics to justify their TV advertising investments.