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This episode of Sunny Side Up features someone who has his finger on the pulse of today’s television viewing habits – which in this world of streaming, browsing, and multiple devices is a more complicated accomplishment than ever. In his role as EVP at Nielsen and MD Demand Side Media, David Hohman has found new ways to understand and leverage both Nielsen’s longtime role as America’s source of advertising metrics as well as leading-edge access to viewer behavior as it’s quickly evolving today. This conversation touches on an overview of CTV terminology, consumer privacy requirements and constraints, the most effective ways for B2B marketers to leverage ad buy (Hint: Integrating as much as possible with content is a big one) and what advantage Nielsen derives from its unique partnership with Roku, the #1 device in America for enabling TV and movie streaming services.
David Hohman is the EVP & MD, Demand Side Media for Nielsen. He has over 20 years of experience across multiple industry verticals and has been with Nielsen since 2013. Prior to Nielsen, Dave led the Global Data and Analytics practice for McCann Worldgroup. Dave is also a USMC veteran and currently lives in Westerly, RI, with his wife Jennifer, and they have two sons, Tristen and Stewart.
“Creating content that is a part of the story and not disruptive, which is what the ad pod in TV has traditionally been about, makes it more compelling and engaging, and people are less likely to skip.”
The trends toward cord-cutting and shift-to-streaming have accelerated, particularly since the advent of Covid19. Streaming and over-the-air broadcast now constitute about 45% of all viewing, which challenges the traditional methods for measuring engagement. The goal is to determine the content, the platforms, and the devices people are using. Nielsen is currently trying to bring all those elements together to aggregate ads and content and then de-duplicate down to all-important individual viewership metrics.
David explains that a lot of traditional TV content is already being encoded for measurement by Nielsen. They also have privacy-protected panels and a trusted track record, which gives Nielsen a leg up on competitors. They are starting from a privacy position rather than trying to incorporate it after the fact. Nielsen’s relationship with Roku, including access to proprietary user information, offers distinct advantages and an opportunity for innovation.
First-party data is becoming ever more critical because advertisers are looking for very specific behaviors to create the most well-targeted, well-timed, and effective ad content for the audience they are trying to reach. The emergence of heightened privacy awareness is only accelerating the urgency. David believes it’s a serious issue, and regulations are only going to continue to increase.
B2B marketers need to understand that there’s not much of a distinction between the business persona and the consumer. They have interests that span both as well as interests that are specific to one or the other. Taking advantage of the signals you get from a consumer’s personal and professional life and integrating them is the best way to get the fullest possible picture. David believes a holistic approach generates the most effective ads.
The power of television is the sight, sound, and motion capability to tell stories. It’s the content that consumers are chasing. It’s all about what people want to see and how people like to consume information. Creating ads that embed themselves within the content is David’s best recommendation for retaining viewer attention and engagement. He doesn’t currently see any companies doing a particularly good job of B2B marketing. It’s still mostly consumer-driven, but David believes the opportunity exists. Storytelling is one of the best ways to deliver a message!
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