Nielsen has unveiled Nielsen ONE, a single measurement solution that will span linear and digital video viewership. According to its press release, Nielsen ONE will give marketers “visibility into total video consumption regardless of platform or device.” Nielsen said the new solution comes as advertisers are “demanding a single deduplicated view of their audiences across all platforms and mediums.”

Nielsen ONE won’t launch until fourth quarter, 2022. At that time Nielsen will start releasing parallel “cross-media ratings that will deliver metrics at subminute intervals for individual ads and content.” The goal is for Nielsen ONE to become the “foundation of the cross-media buying and selling process, succeeding the current form of TV and digital measurement no later than the Fall 2024 season.”

Nielsen’s move occurs as major TV networks have fully embraced streaming and direct-to-consumer services as their highest strategic priorities. As the pandemic has driven new stay-at-home video consumption and high quality content proliferates online (e.g. Warner Bros. 2021 film slate being released on HBO Max), these initiatives have taken on even more importance.

While SVOD models continue to remain popular, 2020 has been a big year for AVOD, with high-profile services like CBS All Access, Hulu, Peacock all capitalizing, especially with viewership on connected TVs. Roku and YouTube have been among the biggest beneficiaries in CTV advertising. In early 2021, discovery+ and HBO Max will also launch with ad-supported options, and CBS All Access will significantly expand with a rebrand to Paramount+.

For all of these new services it is essential to provide advertisers both better targeting and tangible return on spending, through attribution and tangible business outcomes. Nielsen has been moving to incorporate targeting and connected TVs in its measurement. In the past couple of months it announced plans to add addressable TV measurement to its national TV currency and YouTube and YouTube TV apps on CTVs will be measured by its Digital Ad Ratings and Total Ad Ratings, all in 2021.