online video census - nielsenen-us.nielsen.com/sitelets/cls/digital/online-videocensus-faq.pdfonline...

O N L I N E V I D E O C E N S U S FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS2013

2 Copyright © 2013 The Nielsen CompanyVISIT http://en-us.nielsen.com/sitelets/cls/digital/online-videocensus.html OR CALL 1-800-423-4511

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.

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

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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

ONLINE VIDEO CENSUS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ONLINE VIDEO CENSUS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

http://en-us.nielsen.com/sitelets/cls/digital/online-videocensus.html

3Copyright © 2013 The Nielsen Company

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 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.

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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.

ONLINE VIDEO CENSUS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ONLINE VIDEO CENSUS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


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.

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.

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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

2.) Panel weights are applied to the raw counts

3.) Unique viewers are projected to an online

universe estimate

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 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

ONLINE VIDEO CENSUS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS




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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

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

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), panel-projected TSV is calculated for the

demographic composition, and then multiplied by

the scaling factor to compute total TSV.


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 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.

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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.







WHAT IS 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

shown below:

CLIENT1.) Client completes Planning Documentation

3.) Implement Tags (by 10th of month)

5.) Modify Beacons as required

7.) Stream Count Verification and

Remaining Changes

NIELSEN2.) Send VideoCensus Tagging Variables

4.) Verify Beacons/QA (by 15th of month)

6.) Provide Stream Counts (by 20th of month)

8.) Switch Client to Active Measurement

(Requires 1 month of active measurement)

9.) Report Census-Enabled Data in VideoCensus

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8 VISIT http://en-us.nielsen.com/sitelets/cls/digital/online-videocensus.html OR CALL 1-800-423-4511

ABOUT NIELSEN Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and

measurement company with leading market positions in marketing

and consumer information, television and other media measurement,

online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related

properties. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries,

with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands.

For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

Copyright © 2013 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved. Nielsen and

the Nielsen logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of CZT/ACN

Trademarks, L.L.C. Other product and service names are trademarks or

registered trademarks of their respective companies.


online video census - nielsenen-us.nielsen.com/sitelets/cls/digital/online-videocensus-faq.pdfonline...

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