Panel-based measurement of media consumption may seem antiquated when you consider that modern digital media tend to include audience tracking out of the box.
But Dave Hohmann thinks counting consumption through panel reporting is still relevant.
He would think that. As EVP and MD of buy-side media at Nielsen, Hohman works on continuing to offer Nielsen’s traditional panel system to clients – but alongside new data-driven technology.
In fact, Hohman thinks panels can upgrade those new ways of counting.
“Panels at Nielsen are being used, and I think we’ll continue to be used as sort of a source of truth,” says Hohman in this video interview with Beet.TV. “When you’re looking at big data sets, big data sets can have a lot of noise or bias in them, whether intentional or not.
“If you look at return path data from set-top boxes, it’s (only) as good as the footprint of the provider of that capability or that service. If you look at various platforms that are selling – for example, auto intenders – well, are they identified in the same way as the same criteria defining those audiences? That’s difficult when you’re looking at just big data.
“The panel gives you very specific information from people who’ve opted into being measured across all of the devices that they use. That then becomes a truth set, if you will, to calibrate big data sets and get to actual reality.”
This video is part of the Beet.TV series “Creativity & Data Meet at Cannes” presented by Nielsen. For more segments from the series, please visit this page. You can find all Beet.TV coverage of Cannes right here.
