Nielsen and P&G look to help minority-owned media beat data hurdles that block ad spending

Nielsen is launching a Diverse Media Equity program to help bridge measurement and other structural gaps that have excluded minority-owned media companies from receiving their fair share of ad spend. The effort includes a new report quantifying reach and impact of diverse-owned media outlets and expanding access for minority-owned radio stations to Nielsen data, even if they can’t pay for subscriptions. Subscribe to Ad Age now for the latest industry news and analysis. As part of the effort, Procter & Gamble Co. is joining Nielsen to provide seed funding for a $130,000 reimbursement program with the National Minority Supplier Development Council to help cover certification fees for diverse-owned media suppliers. The fund will help provide around 200 publishers with Minority Business Enterprise certification, often required by large companies to qualify for diverse investment. This comes as Madison Avenue looks to shift more media dollars into minority-owned media companies, as media leaders like Byron Allen call for a more equitable share of those budgets. Over the last year agencies like GroupM and Magna, as well as brands like General Motors and Verizon, have made pledges to increase how much of their media budget they are allocating to Black-owned and minority-owned media channels. Nielsen’s first report on diverse media reach and audience profiles finds Black-owned TV stations reach as much as 41% of all adults in smaller local markets where they’re present, while Black-owned radio reaches more than 1.2 million people ages 12 and up. Hispanic-owned local TV reaches 61% of viewers 18 or older in the top 101 U.S. markets where they’re present, including 24% of Asian Americans, 33% of Blacks and 39% of Hispanic viewers, according to the report. Asian-American-owned TV stations reach more than 200,000 adults 18 and up in the top 48 U.S. markets, while Native American-owned radio reaches nearly 800,000 listeners across the U.S. “These are our first steps to bring forward some of the most important metrics that the industry has asked us for about diverse media entities,” said Stacie M. de Armas, senior VP of diverse consumer insights and initiatives, DE&I practice, Nielsen. “We have aggregated really important data for national television, local radio and local television,” de Armas said. “These essentially are numbers that can be used by planners and buyers looking to invest in diverse-owned entities in whatever market they're interested in.” Canela Media, a Latina-owned media company that has participated in Nielsen’s pilot initiative, started initially with one measured campaign and increased that to five within one week. "Our partnership with Nielsen has enabled us to deliver the granular level of transparency and measurement our clients demand,” said Isabel Rafferty, founder and CEO of Canela Media, in a statement. Carlos Santiago, co-founder of the Association of National Advertisers Alliance for Inclusive Multicultural Marketing and president and chief strategist of consulting firm SSG, said in a statement that the Nielsen report data “gives media buyers a view into the impact of diverse media and will facilitate increased investment from media agencies and major advertisers.” Marketers and agencies -- including P&G, Unilever and WPP's GroupM -- have lobbied Nielsen in recent years for better measurement of minority-owned media as they look to increase spending there. But the media companies are often smaller players in smaller markets that are harder to measure accurately, and they often can't afford subscription fees for Nielsen data, said Gonzalo del Fa, president of GroupM Multicultural, during Ad Age Next: CMO virtual panel last year. RSVP for Ad Age’s Super Bowl event on Feb. 8 at AdAge.com/InDepthSuperBowl. In an interview last year, P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard said his company has been asking Nielsen “how big is the market, so we can really make sure we understand how much inventory and spending is actually available.” As part of that effort, Pritchard said P&G shared its own list of minority-owned media companies with Nielsen.

Nielsen and P&G look to help minority-owned media beat data hurdles that block ad spending

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