Roku works with Nielsen on four-screen media measurement

Roku is building on its relationship with Nielsen to expand measurement capabilities, enabling marketers running ads with the streaming platform to deduplicate reach and frequency of ads across four screens: traditional TV, connected TV, desktop and mobile.

As consumers continue to shift between mediums for video consumption, part of the aim is for consistent measurement across screens in the home and to serve ads to the desired audiences. A key element is eliminating (or deduplicating) redundant audience data so marketers can evaluate campaigns’ unique reach and frequency on multiple devices.

The four-screen deduplication is first available in the Nielsen Total Ad Ratings product and the vendor said it marks a significant step toward its forthcoming Nielsen One platform.  According to Nielsen, the four-screen ad deduplication is foundational for audience deduplication features on the Nielsen One cross-media measurement platform, which is expected to be released in December.

“Marketers are increasingly investing in CTV to follow consumers. However, brands want consistent measurement across screens,” said Kim Gilberti, SVP of Product Management at Nielsen, in a statement. “Marketers can now better evaluate CTV inventory’s unique reach and frequency in conjunction with their entire Roku buy in a comparable and comprehensive manner, and advertisers can reduce waste and help ensure that relevant ads are delivered to the right audiences across devices.”

Roku isn’t the first to tap Nielsen’s Four-Screen Ad Deduplication. In July YouTube was the first to allow ad buyers to compare audience reach on desktop, mobile, linear and CTV, enabling marketers to better understand YouTube ad engagement and manage frequency through Nielsen’s product.

For Roku, Nielsen noted its relationship with the company goes back to 2016.

Roku’s ad platform OneView is already directly integrated with Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings, and the four-screen measurement is available on the Roku platform – including any Roku media running through OneView and video inventory on Roku Ad Framework certified channels.

Last year in March Roku acquired Nielsen’s linear addressable advertising unit, including automatic content recognition and dynamic ad insertion technologies.  They also entered a strategic partnership to integrate complementary Nielsen measurement products into the Roku platform and advance the upcoming Nielsen One platform.

Asaf Davidov, head of Ad Measurement and Research at Roku, said in a statement that “our direct consumer relationship, our scale, and our tech all make us uniquely positioned to work with Nielsen to make measurement simpler and more accurate as marketers shift spend to TV streaming.”

It comes as streaming viewership continues to increase. In July, streaming marked a first as it surpassed cable to snag the largest share of total TV time, according to The Gauge.  

Nielsen itself has faced some industry scrutiny as its industry TV ratings accreditation was suspended in 2021 over potentially unreliable data. The vendor’s working to regain Media Rating Council accreditation, a process it hopes to complete later this year.