NEW YORK — Nielsen and Roku have announced a new strategic alliance that the companies believe will help shape the future of media and TV measurement.
As part of a just-signed long-term agreement, Nielsen ad and content products will be integrated into the Roku platform.
For the dominant provider of audience measurement services in the U.S., Nielsen “Always-On” Digital Ad Ratings “will help standardize ad measurement of smart TVs and CTV devices while the implementation of Nielsen Digital Content Ratings will offer publishers insights into the performance of their content.”
Roku will also stand to benefit from the use of Nielsen Total Ad Ratings as it builds out its own unique content.
The collaboration also expands Nielsen’s footprint of smart TVs and other devices, nearing 100 million in total.
This, Nielsen says, allows it “to continue to double down on enabling media sellers and buyers to measure and better monetize addressable advertising.”
And, the agreement allows Nielsen to further advance cross-media measurement product Nielsen ONE.
Importantly, the pact sees Roku agree to acquire Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising (AVA) business. This includes Nielsen’s video automatic content recognition (ACR) and dynamic ad insertion (DAI) technologies.
“The acquisition will accelerate Roku’s launch of an end-to-end DAI solution with TV programmers,” Nielsen notes.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.
