The metrics mess
Transparency and standardization of measurement across streaming platforms has been a primary push for advertisers since the beginning of the streaming boom. And as more platforms build larger audiences and capabilities, it has never been more important.
One agency head of research said that traditional media companies are still in a tug-of-war between selling inventory based on traditional gross rating points and more digital-friendly impressions. And beyond that decision, different media companies have different definitions for what constitutes an impression—for instance, one seller might consider one second of exposure an impression while another might define it as six seconds, said the agency executive.
And agencies aren’t able to do their part in parsing information to form their own standards because streaming platforms haven’t agreed to provide granular information such as how much individual programs are being viewed on the platform or a breakdown of demographics, according to the agency executive.
Some of that information comes with time, said the executive. For example, they said Hulu provides slightly more data on show-level viewership and demographics than some of its competitors given its time in the market. Streamers new to the ad game, including Netflix, promise more transparency will come in the future.
“If I can’t compare what we’ve done on Paramount+ versus Netflix versus Disney+, how do I know I’m not reaching the same person 100 times,” said the agency executive, adding that as streaming grows and more traditional TV content, such as sports and live events, transfers to streamers, “we need to push for transparency now because as we keep continuing down this road, it’ll be harder and harder to get that from publishers.”
Another recent example was the Summer Olympics, according to a fifth buyer. Streamers on Peacock watched 23.5 billion minutes of the 2024 Paris Olympics on the platform, according to NBCUniversal. But when the buyer asked how many people that equated to, NBCU declined to share the information with them.
“I can get the number of people who watch Peacock, but I can’t separate who watched ‘Poker Face’ from the Olympics,” said the buyer. “I don’t know if that means they’re incapable or they just don’t want to. But if I wanted to know how many people watched on NBC, I can pull it myself.”
An NBCUniversal spokesperson said the company often specified Peacock viewership for the Olympics in its daily ratings press releases, and that campaign performance data is shared with clients including show impressions.