This year’s TV upfront promises to be the year the currency used in dealmaking finally changes. But that’s also what agency and network executives declared in 2022. Whether or not you believe the proclamations, it’s clear currency alternatives to stalwart Nielsen are becoming a more viable solution to the years of measurement woes. 

Several media brands have already announced currency providers they will transact against during this year’s spring ad haggle in addition to Nielsen: NBCUniversal will use iSpot.TV and VideoAmp; Warner Bros. Discovery will transact against VideoAmp and Comscore; and Tubi is working with VideoAmp.

As these alternatives potentially become a bigger part of dealmaking this year, the pressing concern is how the networks, media agencies, and even measurement providers themselves, navigate a multi-currency marketplace.

Measurement companies

To level set, the industry has long relied on Nielsen as its sole currency provider—i.e. the data used for pricing and selling commercial inventory. Issues surrounding Nielsen, including the measurement provider losing its Media Rating Council accreditation, have led network groups to test alternatives. But these competitors aren’t one-to-one replacements (nor are they trying to be). 

Implementing data from Comscore, VideoAmp, iSpot or even Nielsen One—the crop that emerged as front runners this year—requires an overhaul of systems and workflow, as well as educating clients.

Much of the onus falls on the measurement providers themselves to integrate with the software that buyers and sellers need for transacting with one another. For example, data sets need to be input into platforms including Mediaocean or FreeWheel’s Strata, where agencies report and bill marketers; Lake 5, which provides performance analytics to networks and agencies; and any proprietary systems media agencies have created to be viable throughout a campaign’s entire lifespan.

The programs used for each step in the buying process vary by publisher and agency, meaning the measurement providers have to check off operation across an immense web of partners to be available for use ubiquitously—a feat still in process for most. Warner Bros. Discovery announced last week that out of its four measurement partners, Nielsen, VideoAmp, Comscore and iSpot, only the first three would be available for use as currencies because iSpot didn’t meet the company’s requirements for transaction-ready software integration. However, iSpot will be available as currency with NBCUniversal and other media companies. And even still, each publisher has elected alternative currencies for certain buys, such as local, advanced audience or linear, rather than for 100% of their inventory.

Read more: New industry guidelines for 2024 upfronts

Getting integrated into these systems is typically a lengthy process. VideoAmp’s VP of product, Jonathan Bohm, said development for VideoAmp’s capabilities in this year’s upfront was conducted nine months to a year ago. Capabilities currently in development at the company are for the upfront selling cycle beginning in 2024.

 A VideoAmp spokesperson specified that it will be a currency provider for five of the six top networks—NBCU, FOX, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and TelevisaUnivision. According to an iSpot spokesperson, the company has currency contracts with 90% of TV networks. A Comscore representative stated it will be used as currency across more than 80% of the top 50 networks.

The outlier is Disney, which will transact on Nielsen at this year’s upfront and offer iSpot, VideoAmp and SambaTV as additive measurements.

Media companies

After making sure measurement data is integrated with ad tech partners, the next step for media companies is to educate internal teams, including product, engineering and selling teams, on how to understand, work with and “ingest this data,” said Andrea Zapata, executive VP, head of ad sales, research, measurement and insights at Warner Bros. Discovery.

Zapata said education on the nuances of how this new data differs from what has been used historically is crucial “because not on my watch are we just going to say we did something and then not actually see it through to activation. That would actually, I think, sour the marketplace on what’s possible with all of this innovation.”

A new and tangible challenge at this year’s upfront will be pricing and forecasting with alternative currencies.

“This year is the first year that I think people need multiple rate cards,” said Dan Aversano, senior VP of data, analytics and advanced advertising at TelevisaUnivision, referring to the pricing sheets media companies generate for buyers. “You’re going to need a VideoAmp rate card if you want to do an upfront deal on it. You’re going to need a Nielsen rate card.”

Related news: Preparing for the future of currency

However, if an agency’s clients each chooses to strike deals on different currencies, Aversano foresees an additional obstacle not yet addressed. TV companies typically price buys per agency holding company, which are transacted on behalf of numerous clients.

“What does that look like when I’m using three different datasets within a single agency?” asked Aversano. “I ask my publisher peers that question and I don’t get a lot of good answers. You ask a buyer and they say, ‘Yeah, we’re not doing it.’ The negotiation is done at such a scale, you then have to shift the upfront model from being negotiated at hold co level to literally negotiating client by client within the hold co.”

One agency executive told Ad Age the systems integrations necessary likely won’t be optimal in time for this year’s negotiations, requiring a more hands-on approach. “All the TV networks as we come to the upfront will be touting the percentage or the dollar volume that they are putting through alternative currencies,” said the executive. “It’s going to be much less than it sounds, and it’s going to be a manual side project versus actually going through the system the way Nielsen currency goes through the system for this year.”

Agencies and marketers

The agency executive said that incorporating alternative currencies into buy-side systems, such as campaign optimizers or planning tools, is just a matter of “rewiring to take in the data.” But a larger hurdle will be the lack of historical data available this year through alternative currencies, impacting agencies’ ability to utilize historical data from a measurement partner for budget and strategy planning. 

The industry seems to have agreed upon a standard of two years of linear data (one year for digital) to prove the consistency of data and provide a stable basis for price negotiations, per standards from OpenAP’s Joint Industry Committee, Paramount’s recent blueprint for using new currencies and conversations with industry sources—with deadlines set for upfront 2024.

“What does change is our ability to look backwards in order to project forwards,” said the executive. “A lot of clients have benchmarks from their media mix modeling that were done every year for the past 10 years, and suddenly we’re not looking at” traditional age and gender reach demographics.

Instead, digital video has ushered in an overhaul in metrics that go beyond demographics to focus on custom measurements for each marketer’s goals, including person-level targeting, attention metrics and pushes for consideration of production quality.

Also read: Marketers are cautious heading into negotiations

One of the largest uphill battles for agencies in evolving their measurement practices may be explaining it all to clients. A second agency executive explained that Nielsen has been the standard measurement partner for so long, that not many clients took the time to fully understand what it is the company actually does. Now, with competitors entering the mix, it’s not simply a matter of okaying new currencies, but having conversations about what it all means.

“We’re going to have to go backwards, explain the methodology that Nielsen used and now explain why we’re changing and the new methodology,” said the executive. “It’s just going to be very dense at a time when clients don’t have a ton of time.”

Clients’ willingness to hear that out will likely vary, said the executive.

“Honestly, it’s not the sexiest conversation. It doesn’t take priority,” they said.

Who’s paying?

Swirling around all of these conversations is who has to ante up the money for numerous measurement contracts. While both agencies and networks have invested substantially in innovating their systems, contracts with Nielsen have constituted as much as $200 million annually for the Big Five networks, Ad Age previously reported.

The networks typically covered the cost for measurement on linear TV, but advertisers have footed the bill for digital measurement, according to the first executive. But as the measurement ecosystem becomes more case-by-case with each client and/or media partner, agencies may be in the hot seat for funding.

“If I was the advertiser, I know I would be saying, ‘Well, I know I pay for digital, but once you’re talking huge, cross-platform investment, I’ll be damned if you’re going to pass that CPM directly over to me,’” said the executive.

Also see: TV upfronts and newfronts calendar

What’s next?

Many solutions ahead of this year’s upfront seem like temporary fixes as the ‘24 upfront will be the start of a new measurement marketplace with the first certifications from OpenAP’s JIC and the official debut of Nielsen One. As such, this year’s dealmaking has divided those content to sit-and-wait and those eager to get started—a tension on full display at a recent measurement conference hosted by Paramount.

“We’re so far behind where the consumer is with our legacy currency structure that even once we change, my fear is that we will still be far behind,” said the first executive.