Report: Nielsen Works To Solve Podcast Riddle

With podcasting a mainstream media habit for an increasing number of Americans, advertiser interest is growing – 18% of marketers surveyed by Advertiser Perceptions say they would definitely consider advertising in a podcast in the next six months.

Measurement, one of podcasting’s biggest hurdles, could soon be overcome by Nielsen’s forthcoming digital audio measurement service.

“Podcasting lends itself beautifully to total audience measurement,” Nielsen EVP of product leadership Megan Clarken told InsideRadio in an interview. Once the measurement giant’s software development kit (SDK) is embedded in a podcast, “we’re picking it up every single time it’s listened to,” she said.

Measuring podcast ads is the easy part. If the ads carry their own unique identifying tag, Nielsen can collect the ad consumption info, whether audio or video, Nielsen EVP & managing director of local media Matt O’Grady said.

How podcast programming gets credited is a little trickier. If the podcast is repurposed from an on-air show and carries the same commercial load, it could be included in the station’s AQH ratings. For podcasts that are downloaded and listened to later, the SDK has the ability to hold on to that time-shifted consumption data and send it back to Nielsen the next time the user is online. Nielsen would then need to come up with something similar to the TV industry’s C3 ratings currency which counts the initial broadcast plus three days of time-shifted viewing.

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