Neilsen

Nielsen Releases ‘The Record’ – Quarterly Insights On How U.S. Audiences Listen To Ad-Supported Audio

~ jen

Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data analytics, announced the launch of The Record, a quarterly insight into audio listening behaviors and share of average daily usage of ad-supported audio in the U.S.

According to the inaugural report with data from Q1 2024, consumers spent nearly 70% of their daily ad-supported audio time listening to radio, 20% listening to podcasts, and the remainder with streaming audio (music services) and satellite radio (select channels).

Per the Record, which is powered by data from both Nielsen and Edison Research, most radio listening occurs during the day while away from home, with more than 80% of in-car ad-supported audio time going to radio in Q1 2024.

Across both over-the-air and streaming radio, the leading radio formats among listeners 18+ during the same period were News/Talk (10.8%), Adult Contemporary (8.6%) and Classic Hits and Country (5.9% each). From a streaming-only perspective, News/Talk radio stations accounted for 21.7% of listening among audiences 18+, followed by All Sports stations at 8.6% of all streaming station listening.

“We’re excited to introduce The Record, which utilizes powerful data insights from Nielsen and Edison Research to provide the industry with a unique, multi-lens look at how U.S. audiences are listening to ad-supported audio,” said Rich Tunkel, Managing Director, Nielsen Audio. :The audio portion of consumers’ daily media diet is significant, and these new insights will serve as an important tool for advertisers, broadcasters and podcasters alike to better understand and ultimately reach their intended audience.”

The News/Talk radio format includes commercial and non-commercial stations.

About Nielsen

Nielson shapes the world’s media and content as a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their audiences – now and into the future. Nielsen operates around the world in more than 55 countries. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram).

Neilsen’s Gracenote Helps Samsung Optimize Podcast Users Experiences

~ jen

Gracenote, the leading provider of entertainment metadata, content IDs and related offerings, will provide the Gracenote Audio On Demand data solution to Samsung Electronics, the leading global consumer electronics device maker, under a new agreement. Gracenote Audio On Demand will power the Samsung Podcasts offering available through the Samsung Free app on its mobile devices and tablets. This integration enables Samsung to deliver highly personalized podcast experiences to better entertain, inform and engage users.

Gracenote Audio On Demand is a standardized and enriched dataset enabling powerful search and discovery of podcast content across digital entertainment platforms and devices. First launched in 2020, the solution to one of the world’s largest podcast datasets now covering more than two million unique podcast series and 80 million episodes. The offering leverages Gracenote’s long-running content metadata experience and industry-standard content IDs which offer power advanced navigation and cross-media linking tying audio and video programming together.

The Samsung Free app available on Samsung devices in the U.S. and Europe will integrate Gracenote Audio On Demand to enable market-specific play listing capabilities and deliver more locally relevant podcast recommendations results. Through more personalized podcast recommendations which match listeners’ preference, tastes and moods, Samsung will be able to maximize engagement on its app and users satisfaction with its devices.

Samsung Free is the go-to destination enabling users to seamlessly navigate the premium content that matters to them most, at no cost. Through the app, Samsung device users have access to a curated entertainment experience on which they can seamlessly listen to top-rated podcasts, read breaking news, watch free TV and play games.

According to Nielsen, podcast consumption is up 40% since 2018 in the U.S. With rising interest in podcasts and an ever-expanding universe of available content, seamlessly connecting consumers to the podcast shows and episodes they’re interested in better enables discovery of new content.

“User experience focusing on podcast content represent the next big opportunity for device makers and entertainment services to drive audience engagement,” said Simon Adams, Chief Product Officer, Gracenote. “We’re confident that by integrating Gracenote Audio On Demand, Samsung will optimize podcast recommendations and discovery across their devices and apps enabling users to get maximum enjoyment from the ever-increasing time spent with podcast content.”

Samsung Electronics expects that by integrating Gracenote Audio On Demand, it will be easier for Samsung users to find the content they love based on their tastes and preferences. Samsung and Gracenote will work closely to improve the discovery experience for the listeners of Samsung Podcasts, which is available on Samsung Free along with other live TV, news, games and more.

Gracenote is the content solutions pillar of Nielsen providing entertainment metadata, content IDs and related offerings to the world’s leading creators, distributors and platforms. Gracenote technology enables advanced content integration and discovery capabilities helping individuals to easily connect to the TV shows, movies, music and sports they love while delivering powerful content analytics making complex business decisions simpler.

AdLarge and Neilsen Renew Multi-Year Agreement

~ jen

Ad-Large and Nielsen announced they have entered into a multi-year renewal agreement for Nielsen Audio measurement. With this agreement, AdLarge continues its participation in RADAR, the only Nielsen audio service that provides commercial ratings and is the best available forecast of a network’s audience delivery.

AdLarge Media is the leading independent ad sales and content company, specializing in podcasts, AM/FM, streaming, and on-demand lifestyle-driven audio content. AdLarge has utilized Nielsen’s measurement service since 2013.

“RADAR continues to be an extremely integral part of the purchasing and decision making process for advertisers,” said Don Wachsmith, Chief Revenue Officer of AdLarge Media. “Subscribers are required to adhere to strict guidelines in order to provide agencies with secure and accurate information. RADAR’s measurement data remains the most proven and reliable in the marketplace today.”

“AdLarge is an audio powerhouse, and we are pleased to continue our relationship,” said Bruce Supovitz, SVP/National Audio Services, Nielsen Audio. “AdLarge offers a tremendous breadth of scale by focusing on all audio environments, across all platforms, and we look forward to continuing to empower them with capabilities that optimize their national sales inventory.”

RADAR radio networks provide Nielsen with commercial clearance records from thousands of affiliated radio stations, which are merged with listening information from a database of almost 400,000 respondents. This added accountability allows RADAR to provide the best available forecast of a network’s future audience delivery and a high standard of reliable metrics for buying network radio.

Veritone One Subscribes to Neilsen’s Podcast Buying Power Service

~ jen

Neilsen announced that Veritone One, Inc. is now a subscriber to Neilsen’s Podcast Buying Power service. With headquarters in Costa Mesa, Calif., Veritone One is one of the world’s largest full-service performance-based audio advertising and media agencies.

As a new subscriber to Neilsen’s service, Veritone One will have access to podcast insights spanning 18 genres and over 150 individual podcast titles that can be cross-referenced among a variety of consumer purchase behavior patterns and services usage.

Currently counting over 12 major podcast companies a subscribers, Neilsen’s Podcast Buying Power Service allows clients to profile shows using program specific titles collected from subscribers in order to connect specific types of listeners with particular advertisers and specific program-level insights. It also features the same capabilities by genres and listening usage.

“As one of the largest podcast advertising agencies serving over 100 active clients across 15,000 podcasts, Nielsen’s research will help us refine our current placements and unlock market opportunities for new advertisers wanting to enter the medium,” said Conor Doyle, SVP of Strategy and Investment at Veritone One. “Access to consumption and audience data will attract brand advertisers who have been previously hesitant to enter the largely direct-to-consumer space. Integrating Nielsen’s unique insights along with our proprietary AI-based analytics and decades of experience will enable us to set a new industry standard in podcast advertising.”

Only Nielsen, with its extensive Scarborough category database, has this type of advertiser connection with podcasting. Nielsen Podcast Buying Power service has the ability to capture results for specific programs and tie them back with over 2,000 retail/plan-to-buy categories and hundreds of advertisers with specific brand names such as insurance companies, automotive, quick-service restaurants, home improvement retailers and more. These easy-to-use reports are generated from web-based software and have a two time per year data release.

Neilsen Launched Gracenote On Demand

~ jen

Neilsen, a global measurement and data analytics company, launched Gracenote Audio On Demand, a standardized and enriched dataset enabling powerful navigation, search and discovery of more than 37 million podcast episodes across all digital entertainment platforms.

With this new offering, streaming music platforms, consumer electronics (CE) companies, Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs) and automakers can create personalized listening experiences, allowing podcast and talk radio fans to connect to a broader range of personalities and topics than ever before.

Based on steadily increasing popularity, podcasts have entered the mainstream as a broad-reaching entertainment medium. According to Neilsen Scarborough, the audience for podcasting has been growing by 20% on average for the last six years. At that rate, the audience for podcasting could double by 2023.

At launch, Gracenote Audio on Demand will have standardized podcast titles, descriptions and imagery across more than 900,000 podcast series and will be assigned a popularity score to help surface the most popular content, while the top series will leverage more descriptive information such as Category Hierarchy and Celebrity Links for more powerful universal search across platforms and cross-media linking capabilities.

  • Popularity Score: Improves search and discovery capabilities by identifying and surfacing the most popular podcasts in a catalog.
  • Category Hierarchy: Provides three levels of categories when classifying series and episodes to enable more engaging and unique discovery experiences.
  • Celebrity Links: Allows listeners to identify verified celebrity links across content, providing rich discovery experiences.

Other key benefits and features of Gracenote Audio On Demand include:

  • Deduplicated & Normalized Data: Daily checks remove duplicate submissions and eliminate relevant issues.
  • In-Depth Categorization: Standardized classifiers for series and episodes help surface more relevant content, enabling more engaging and unique discovery experiences
  • Standard Ids: Assigns a common Gracenote ID of reference for a podcast series across different platforms to support identification and cross-media linking.
  • Parties and Celebrities: Allows users to identify verified celebrity links with role type, including host, guest and participant, enabling better linking than text-based approaches
  • API, SDK and Full Feed Access: Tap into data via the API, SDK or Full for flexible implementation options.

Neilsen Launches Podcast Listener Buying Power Service

~ jen

Nielsen announced the launch of the Neilsen, Podcast Listener Buying Power Service from Nielsen Scarborough, with iHeartMedia, Cadence13, Midroll-Stitcher’s advertising arm, Westwood One and cabana as charter clients. For the first time, clients will be able to profile shows using program titles collected from Neilson Scarborough to connect specific types of listeners with particular advertisers and specific program-level insights.

In other words, this is the Nielsen for podcasting, which will function similarly to how that system has been used with television shows.

Only Nielsen, with its extensive Scarborough category database has this type of advertiser connection with podcasting. Neilsen Podcast Listener Buying Power Service has an effective sample of close to 30,000 respondents, with the ability to capture results for specific programs.

It also uses target questions on podcast listening with more than 12 podcast genres, over 2,000 retail/plan-to-buy categories and hundreds of advertisers with specific brand names such as insurance companies, automotive, quick service restaurants, home improvement retailers and more. These easy-to-use reports are generated from web-based software and have a two time per year database.

“We are pleased to welcome iHeartMedia, Cadence13, Midroll, Westwood One and cabana as the first charter clients to Nielsen’s Podcast Listener Buying Power Service,” said Brad Kelly, Managing Director, Nielsen Audio.

“As the audio landscape continues to evolve, podcasting is winning the attention of American consumers as another powerful tool in audio’s arsenal. We are proud to empower these visionary clients with the insights that will propel them forward as they continue to lead the way in our industry. This groundbreaking service is growing podcasting beyond direct response by profiling specific brands, leading the way into the future of podcasting.”