The effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have been numerous and widespread, extending into all aspects of daily life. Among the myriad adjustments consumers around the globe have needed to make, however, perhaps none have been as significant as spending a majority of their time at home, both during formal lockdowns and after cities have started to re-open. 

With home becoming the new office for many Americans, connectivity and technology are paramount. The shift to virtual from IRL has re-shaped an array of behaviors, ranging from how we receive medical care, to how we shop and engage with media—and even interact with one another.

This special episode of the Database delves into the new reality that many Americans are facing in light of COVID-19: spending many of our waking hours at home, including the time we spend working. Our guests for this episode include Peter Katsingris, SVP Audience Insights, Chris Quick, Senior Research Executive, Roxanne Geyer,  VP of Platform Operations for Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising division, Alex Gutierrez, Director of client solutions for addressable TV, and Bradley Rouzer, DAI (dynamic ad insertion) observer.

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Database on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Database: The New Work-Life-Media Balance appeared first on Nielsen.

Around the world, women are making headlines and hashtags, taking leadership roles at home, in their communities and on the job. They’re also immensely involved in the majority of household purchase decisions. Some estimates project they will control 75% of household discretionary dollars worldwide by 2028. But at the same time, globally women also continue to shoulder more of the household burdens, while battling chronic discrimination and experiencing less financial security than ever. For the past few months, we’ve explored the challenges women face, as well as how companies can help them, as part of our Wise Up to Women campaign. 

In this special episode of the Database podcast, recorded during CES 2020, we sat down with Marie Lalleman, Executive Vice President, Global Client Solutions at Nielsen, and Tina Daniels, Agency Sales Director, Google. We asked both women to share how they’ve navigated gender inequality in their own careers and how they’re helping to pave the way for other women, particularly in the technology space.

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Database on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Database: A Conversation with Women in Technology appeared first on Nielsen.

Across the spectrum of emerging consumer technologies, few stand out the way extended reality (XR) does. Whether augmented, virtual or mixed, the XR landscape presents an array of gamification engagement opportunities for brands, networks, content creators and consumers themselves. 

This special episode of the Database podcast, recorded during CES 2020, features Stephanie Llamas, Head of Research and XR at SuperData, a Nielsen company, and Vinay Narayan, Vice President of Platform Strategy and Developer Community at HTC Vive. While our conversation started out focused on the impact that the various types of XR will have on the gaming industry, we learned that these emerging technologies will ultimately benefit much broader industries than just entertainment. 

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Database on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Database: How Mixed Realities Will Enhance the Video Game Landscape appeared first on Nielsen.

As we’ve been reporting over the past year or so, the wait for addressable advertising in the linear TV space is over. Fueled by the mass adoption of smart-enabled television sets and consumers’ increasing desires for unique experiences, a handful of programmers are leveraging data and targeting capabilities to deliver personalized ads within the traditional, linear TV environment. The pool of programmers in this space, however, is about to get much bigger, following the announced beta release of Nielsen’s Addressable TV platform, which includes A+E Networks, AMC Networks, CBS, Discovery, FOX, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia.

This special episode of the Database podcast, recorded during CES last week, features Kelly Abcarian, General Manager for Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising Group, and Dan Callahan, SVP of Data Strategy and Innovation at FOX. Together, they talk about what the beta release of Nielsen’s Addressable TV platform means for the industry, as well as what addressable advertising in the linear TV realm will look like—and offer to brands looking to introduce more of a personalized experience to TV viewers.

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Database on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Database: A Step Toward Widespread Addressable Ads on Linear TV appeared first on Nielsen.

De acordo com nossa pesquisa global, Trust in Advertising, 84% dos participantes declaram que a opinião de fontes confiáveis, como os influenciadores digitais, é o principal motivador das suas decisões de compra.

Seguindo essa tendência, as ações de marketing de influência estão cada vez mais presentes nos planos de mídia das marcas, no entanto, elas ainda estão muito ligadas às chamadas “métricas de vaidade”, como os likes (ou curtidas”) e número de comentários. 

Neste episódio, contamos com nossos convidados especiais, Ana Paula Passarelli, Co-fundadora e CEO da Brunch, e o Rodrigo Soriano,  CEO e fundador da Airfluencers, em uma conversa mediada pela nossa Líder de Mídia, Sabrina Balhes, para entender como as marcas podem se beneficiar do poder dos criadores de conteúdo digital e influenciadores, garantindo uma mensuração efetiva de suas campanhas e objetivos de marca.  

Quer ouvir nossos outros episódios? Inscreva-se no Podcast Nielsen Brasil nas plataformas Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcast ou Stitcher e veja os episódios anteriores aqui.

The post Podcast Nielsen Brasil: #Followme: O poder dos influenciadores appeared first on Nielsen.

The wait for addressable TV advertising is over. The mass adoption of smart TVs and the ability to use data for audience-focused messaging is opening the doors to personalized advertising on the biggest screen in the home.

Almost half of the TV homes in the U.S. (47%) have at least one enabled smart TV. Additionally, the first-quarter 2019 Nielsen Total Audience report found that 72% of U.S. homes use streaming-capable TV devices. These numbers highlight a significant opportunity for brands, marketers and advertisers—and that opportunity is audience-level engagement.

In its most basic sense, addressable advertising is messaging that advertisers send to only the audience they want to reach. And now that 58 million U.S. households have at least one internet-enabled smart TV, advertisers have both the data and the avenue to connect with viewers on the biggest browser screen in the house—the one on the living room wall.

As advertising channels become more focused on specific audience, it’s critical that brands, marketers and advertisers pay attention to the needs and wants of the people they’re engaging with.

Across audiences, women are a key focus for brands. Not only do they outnumber men in the U.S. (52% vs. 48%), they have shared or primary responsibility for daily shopping and household chores, and they’re the primary buyer for everyday household items. They also consume significantly more media each week than men (73 hours vs. 68 hours). And when it comes to what women are looking for from brands and advertisers, it doesn’t have anything to do with the color of the package the product or service comes in.

This special episode, recorded during Advertising Week, focuses on addressable advertising and how the media industry can use it and other approaches to best reach the audiences they seek to engage with—particularly women. Our conversation includes Kelly Abcarian, general manager for Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising Group, Jessica Hindlian, SVP in Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising Group, and Tracey Scheppach, CEO and Co-Founder of Matter More Media.

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Database on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Database: How Addressable Advertising is Personalizing the TV Experience appeared first on Nielsen.

How can broadcasters make their radio ads more memorable and more impactful with consumers? Neuroscience is how. 

Audio has a special intimacy with listeners and taps into certain reward centers in our brain – areas which can be studied with neuroscience, which has historically focused mainly on visual (TV) ads. Nowadays, with radio front and center again in the media mix among large advertisers, the same scrutiny around how to make effective ads which has been commonplace in TV for years, is now being applied to audio and radio. This episode welcomes Dr. Bradley Vines from Nielsen’s Neuroscience division to discuss best practices for making great radio commercials, the importance of sonic branding and the role of music in the creative toolbox.

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Nielsen Audio Podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Nielsen Audio Podcast: The (Neuro)Science Behind Great Radio Ads appeared first on Nielsen.

While there’s likely never been a time when operating a brand was easy, running one today is undoubtedly more challenging than it’s ever been before.

Think about everything we’ve covered on this podcast:

• Store sizes are getting smaller and product variety is growing

• Shopping baskets reflect on-the-go lifestyles, often with a focus on fresh, natural and health and wellness

• E-commerce and omnichannel shopping are rapidly altering our shopping behaviors

• The time we spend with media is rising, but across an array of expanding platforms and devices

When you add it all up, it’s downright daunting. And when you consider that just 8% of global consumers consider themselves committed to their favorite brands, it’s enough to leave brands and marketers with far more questions than answers.

With a massive 42% of global consumers actively on the hunt for new and different, there’s never been a more important time to look at your brand targeting strategies—things like acquisition and retention—and have clear insight into the implications of those strategies. 

This episode is a second exploration of an age-old question within the advertising industry: Is it better to target brand buyers or non-brand buyers. To shed light on the topic, we brought back Leslie Wood, chief research officer at NCS and Linghan Wang, Director of Research and Development at NCS, to share some new insights from their “How to Build Brands” study, which focuses on three-and-a-half years worth of retail sales data.

You can listen to our first discussion with Leslie and Linghan here. 

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Database on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Database: Who’s Buying Your Brand and How to Grow It appeared first on Nielsen.

For many of us, TV isn’t what it used to be. For others, TV today is the only TV they’ve ever known. As a result, there’s no longer an easy way to define what TV is—or what it isn’t.

But regardless of how you define TV, there’s no mistaking the impact that advancing technology, internet connectivity, mobility, device fragmentation and platform diversity have had on the video industry. The result? A seemingly endless array of content that offers enough variety for even the pickiest of viewers.

The proof is in the data. The average American now spends 10-and-a-half hours each day consuming media, with almost five-and-a-half hours spent watching video. When it comes to video consumption, live TV remains in the driver’s seat when we look at average time spent, but we’re seeing increases in engagement with game consoles, app and web use on smartphones, and internet connected devices. In fact, nearly seven in 10 TV households have a device that can stream content, and a similar amount have access to a streaming SVOD service.

But internet connectivity isn’t all about shuttering linear TV. In fact, the rise of vMVPDs, or virtual multichannel programming distributors, provides cord cutters with a way to access traditional television programming without a complete cable or satellite package. Today, vMVPDs exist in just under 4% of U.S. TV homes.

This episode, which is the second of a two part-look this season at how digital is driving change across the media landscape, focuses on how digital video is helping shape the content landscape. Kevin Rini, SVP Product Leadership within Nielsen Media, and Sal Tuzzeo, VP, Communications, Nielsen Media, delve into the growth of stand-alone streaming services, how linear options are keeping pace, the myriad ways in which video is available to consumers and how content creators are experimenting to deliver on evolving consumer demands.

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Database on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Database: How Digital is Evolving Video Content appeared first on Nielsen.

Digital purchases for consumer packaged goods (CPG), like grocery products or beauty and personal care items, have historically lagged items like clothing or electronics. In fact, online sales currently represent just 5% of total CPG sales. But trends are shifting and today’s shoppers are increasingly heading online to buy the products and services they need for their daily lives. And digital sales for CPG products are growing at a rate of 30% year-over-year.

In the U.S., one consumer group that’s leading these trends toward digital shopping is Asian Americans. Approximately 47% of Asian Americans are under the age of 35, making them digital natives. As a result, the group is more likely than the total population to own digital devices. In fact, 97% own a smartphone, which makes them 6% more likely than the total population.

Not surprisingly, they’re using these devices to shop online. 87% have made an online purchase over the past 12 months, which means they’re 22% more likely to do so than the general population.

For CPG manufacturers and retailers, understanding how to innovate new products that meet consumers’ needs in this increasingly digital retail landscape, as well as what consumers are looking for and how to connect with them online, is crucial.  

This episode, which is the second of a two-part look at the path to purchase, includes two segments: first, a discussion with Jenny Frazier, global commercial leader for Nielsen BASES, about the role of innovation along the consumer path to purchase, with a focus on omnichannel; and second, a conversation with Mariko Carpenter, VP of Strategic Community Alliances, at Nielsen, about how Asian American consumers are leaning heavily into digital in their consumer journey and helping to drive shifts across other consumer segments.

Special thanks to My Le, Client Operations Manager for Nielsen Catalina Solutions and the Northeast regional co-lead of, AAL, Nielsen’s Asian American employee resource group, who helps introduce the episode.

Looking for more episodes? Subscribe to The Database on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, and catch up on previous episodes on our Megaphone page.

The post The Database: Innovating for Today’s Omnichannel Shoppers appeared first on Nielsen.