I recently read an article about Google partnering with Nielsen. Google will incorporate Nielsen’s demographic information into its current TV ad metrics. Currently, to place a TV ad through Google, it looks like you select the network (the channel the ad is placed on) and the daypart (day and time the ad is run) for the targeting of your ad. You then gauge performance with impressions, % view to end, most common view out time, and average viewing time.

Historic Nielsen demographic information should be tied to the network and the dayparting selections. You could then select certain demographic segments, such as age and gender, and be shown the networks and times to run your ads, that will allow you to reach the highest percentage of your desired audience (this will be a forecast) - based on the data from Nielsen.

In the press release, the Nielsen demographic information (derived from the representative television ratings panels) is said to be available 24 hours post ad impression. This makes me question if you will be able to use historic demographic data to forecast the network and daypart that will most likely reach your desired audience.

For the current Google TV ad performance metrics, I wonder if the % view to end metric is longest during the dinner hour, as people use commercial breaks to make dinner and run around the house. You may have solid impression info, but your viewers may not be in front of the TV - they are trying to decide which wine goes with their roasted duck (never had roasted duck before - I should try it).

Impression information is helpful but it never tells you user engagement. It’s like those thousand internet banner ad impressions I gave while being online this week. Was I actually looking at the ads - it is almost impossible to tell based on impression data. So be careful when assessing ad success based only on impressions.

I have never used Google TV ads, but it seems to be a step in the right direction for determining your TV ad success, and this partnership will probably add to it.

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