LAS VEGAS – How do you determine where a line should be if it is constantly shifting? The line in question is consumers’ tolerance for ads in digital and traditional television programming and it changes along with their changing preferences, according to Nielsen’s President of U.S. Media.
Lynda Clarizio says Nielsen’s two-day Consumer 360 conference has the word “consumer” in the title “because it’s all about the consumer.” In an interview with Beet.TV, Clarizio says, “Our businesses on all sides of the clients that we serve are affected by changes in the consumer landscape.”
At the very least, adds, Clarizio, conference attendees should take away the notion that “advertising is not a bad thing,” as evidenced by dialogue from the likes of Hulu showing that large numbers of viewers choose to watch ads. How many ads they will tolerate is another issue.
“Ad load, at least I would say personally, is something that the industry should look at because at some point you cross sort of a line with consumers where you do breach their trust and they say enough is enough,” Clarizio says. “We need to look at where that line is and that line may be shifting in this environment.”
While the traditional gross rating point for measuring TV audiences still holds up, it’s only one data point the industry should be focusing on, according to Clarizio.
“There’s a number of metrics which the industry needs to coalesce around and those metrics likely are changing and will change as content changes,” she says.
This video is part of series produced at Consumer 360. The series is sponsored by Nielsen. Please visit this page for additional segments.
