Bad news for Nielsen: TV ads to be bought more like online ads

Two executives from media agency Initiative said TV ads will increasingly become performance-based, moving the industry beyond just trying to amass huge audiences. That could throw a huge monkey wrench into the way brands and agencies think about media buying, and could be disruptive to Nielsen’s ratings system.

Kris Magel, EVP of Initiative’s National Broadcast practice, and Michael Hayes, president of Initiative Digital, discussed the current state of video advertising and how the agency thinks the mix of TV and online video advertising will change in the future. One key takeaway from the discussion was that the way TV ads are bought today needs to be rethought. Hayes said that on the digital side, the agency thinks of audiences a little differently. For instance, “auto demographics are dead,” he said. Media buyers shouldn't really care about whether someone is in the 18-49 demographic, or male or single. What really matters is behavior and intent, and whether the viewer — regardless of age, sex or marital status — is interested in buying a car. Furthermore, digital ads provide advanced tracking and measurement.