VideoCensus Tagging Methodology FAQ

Transcription

1 VideoCensus Tagging Methodology FAQ 1. What is VideoCensus? VideoCensus is the first online video measurement service to combine patented panel and census research methodologies. It provides a syndicated end-to-end accounting of audience size, demographic composition, engagement and competitive activity. VideoCensus delivers precise information about audience consumption and engagement in streaming media. Using a technology- and platform-agnostic data collection system, VideoCensus objectively measures all methods of streaming media delivery regardless of the application, protocol or viewing platform. VideoCensus through its proprietary combination of technologies that are continually updated and improved as the industry continues to innovate and grow accurately and reliably measures the entire market on an even playing field. 2. How does VideoCensus measure online video streaming? VideoCensus uses a mixed-model measurement methodology that combines patented panel- and serverbased metrics in a manner that measures both tagged and non-tagged publishers on an even playing field. Nielsen is able to do this by holding constant as many metric calculations as possible (see below for more details). Since not all publishers are willing or able to tag, it is important that a comprehensive syndicated service like VideoCensus provides an apples-to-apples comparison between tagged and non-tagged publishers to allow for unbiased competitive market-wide rankings. In VideoCensus, an individual publisher entity is either measured passively (non-tagged) or actively (tagged), never a mix of both this is to avoid any chance of double-counting. Passive Measurement (non-tagged publishers): Leveraging Nielsen s online panel, VideoCensus passive measurement projects a site s video usage and reports on all sites that meet a minimum panelist threshold Panelist activity is collected through the proprietary Nielsen Online meter and that activity is credited to the appropriate entity in the Nielsen MarketView hierarchy (organized by Parent- Brand-Channel) Passive measurement does not require participation/tagging of the sites being measured Active Measurement (tagged publishers): Leverages Nielsen s online panel (like passive measurement), but also collects highly accurate, comprehensive counts and granular detail on consumption by observing video player-based communication with Nielsen Requires client participation to update video players with the Nielsen video beacon 3. Why does VideoCensus use a mixed-model approach to measurement? VideoCensus mixed-model methodology is believed to be best of breed by combining the benefits of both approaches and addressing the limitations of a panel-only or census-only solution. Census solutions are great at providing granularity and measurement accuracy; however, it is very difficult to ascertain unique viewer audience and demographic compositions from tagged data alone. Alternatively, panel-only 1

2 solutions are great at calculating unique viewer audience and providing high-quality demographics; however, panels cannot provide the level of granularity and accuracy that tagging offers. 4. How is VideoCensus methodology different from other models? Although Nielsen is not the only vendor to employ a mixed-model solution for syndicated video measurement, it should be noted that Nielsen was a pioneer for this measurement approach, and VideoCensus was the first syndicated video measurement product to use a mixed model. There are some fundamental differences in how unique viewers are determined between VideoCensus ( panel-up ) and other models ( server-down ). 1. VideoCensus unique viewer metric is strictly a panel-based calculation that applies weights to directly observed activity (for both tagged and non-tagged publishers) that is projected to an online universe estimate. Since VideoCensus calculates unique audience the same way for tagged and non-tagged entities, there is no methodological disadvantage to publishers who elect not to tag. 2. Other online video measurement models calculate unique viewers differently depending on whether or not the publisher is tagged. For tagged publishers, the unique viewer calculation is dependent on cookies as a base calculation. A cookie deflation factor is applied to the cookie count to adjust for duplication and other factors that could artificially inflate the unique browser count. For non-tagged entities, a different panel-only-based model is used instead to determine unique viewers. 5. Why would a publisher want to tag? Although VideoCensus methodology is designed to measure tagged and non-tagged publishers on equal footings, a publisher may still elect to tag their video players because of the benefits (e.g., granularity and comprehensiveness) that tagging offers. With tagging in place, a publisher may elect to further segment their streaming traffic from what is possible with passive measurement by provisioning additional channels and/or client defined entities (i.e., program/show rankings). Also, because tagging provides a census measurement of streaming activity from all locations, it can provide additional visibility into activity outside of VideoCensus currently metered Home and Work panel. 6. Is a publisher at a disadvantage if they don t tag? Although tagged publishers benefit from increased granularity, census reporting of stream views, and scaled duration, unique viewers are calculated in the same way as with non-tagged publishers. 7. How does tagging affect Unique Viewer metric? Unique viewer (UV) calculation is not affected by tagging. UV is calculated by: 1. observing the number of unique viewers in a month who view streams within the panel a. for non-tagged sites, unique viewers who view stream URLs are observed b. for tagged sites, unique viewers who view tag URLs are observed 3. unique viewers are projected to an online universe estimate 8. How does tagging affect Total Stream metric? Total streams (TS) is calculated by: 1. observing the number of total streams fired within the panel a. for non-tagged sites, stream URLs are observed 2

3 b. for tagged sites, tag URLs are observed 3. total streams are projected to an online universe estimate a. for tagged sites, total streams is also adjusted to equal census streams for the entity 9. How does tagging affect Time Spent Viewing metric? Time spent viewing (TSV) is calculated by: 1. Observing the total number of minutes viewed within the panel a. for non-tagged sites, duration is observed from stream URLs b. for tagged sites, duration is observed from tag URLs 3. duration is projected to an online universe estimate 4. a scaling factor is calculated at the entity level by dividing census streams by panel-projected streams a. for tagged sites, duration is also multiplied by the scaling factor at the individual stream instance level 10. How is data scaled for tagged publishers? At topline level for tagged entities: total stream count will be equal to the census stream count for the entity total time spent viewing (TSV) will be equal to the panel-projected TSV x the scaling factor At the respondent-level for tagged entities: total stream (TS) count will be equal to panel-projected TS x scaling factor total time spent viewing (TSV) will be equal to the panel-projected TSV x the scaling factor 11. How are demographics ascribed to streams and duration at census level? For tagged data, panel-projected streams are calculated for the demographic composition, and then multiplied by the scaling factor to compute total streams. Likewise, for time spent viewing (TSV), panelprojected TSV is calculated for the demographic composition, and then multiplied by the scaling factor to compute total TSV. 12. How does VideoCensus active measurement work? 1. You Tag It: Publishers update their video player with VideoCensus code, which triggers the viewer s browser to ping our server with the relevant details such as the video's content and origin--when the stream is viewed. 2. We Measure It The meter technology residing on the PCs of our panelists sees the URL request and immediately recognizes, records, and parses it. It extracts all relevant information such as stream/program title, program type, publisher name, and video section. This provides accurate identification and reporting of the content being viewed, because the meter is recording the information supplied by the publisher 3

4 in the VideoCensus tags. This connection to the panelist enables deep demographic and engagement reporting as well as a true census count of all activity worldwide. 3. We Report It VideoCensus delivers highly accurate, granular reporting of online video consumption from the US home/work audience. The tagging process also allows us to report actual or census-based counts in a syndicated service. 13. How is embedded video streaming credited in VideoCensus? VideoCensus always credits the publisher who delivers the video content, not the site on which the content is viewed. For example, if a YouTube video is embedded on a Facebook page, VideoCensus would credit YouTube for the stream view, not Facebook. 4

5 14. The Tagging Process Nielsen requires a full month of comprehensive and correctly tagged activity to actively measure an entity in VideoCensus. Before an entity can be switched from passive to active measurement, the tag implementation must meet the deadlines below: Client Nielsen Client completes Planning Documentation Send VideoCensus Tagging Variables Implement Tags (by 10 th of month) Verify Beacons/QA (by 15 th of month) Modify Beacons as Required Provide Stream Counts (Nielsen) (by 20 th of month) Stream Count Verification & Remaining Changes Switch Client to Active Measurement* *Requires 1 month of active measurement Report Census- Enabled Data in VideoCensus 5