Lionsgate has asked Nielsen to provide performance data on its FAST channel MovieSphere. But FAST platforms know exactly how the channel is doing. So, why does Lionsgate need Nielsen?
Nielsen will measure the performance of Lionsgate’s MovieSphere Fast channel
Last week, Nielsen and Lionsgate announced a deal that will see Nielsen providing measurement data on the performance of Lionsgate’s MovieSphere FAST channel. The channel is widely available on 15 FAST platforms, including Pluto TV, Tubi, and Vizio WatchFree+. According to Jim Packer, president of worldwide television distribution at Lionsgate, the deal will give Lionsgate the tools it needs to benchmark the channel performance and improve it:
“This is potentially a very significant development where our team can leverage viewer reach, duration, frequency, concentration, and other audience indicators to help us shape our branded, general entertainment channels to better return value for our partners.”
Nielsen was equally pleased to be working with Lionsgate on the deal, according to Amilcar Perez, Nielsen’s chief revenue officer:
“The FAST market is growing rapidly, demanding more solutions to understand how people are engaging with FAST channels. We’re pleased to collaborate with Lionsgate, a leader in the FAST market, to bring more clarity and efficiency to FAST players.”
What was omitted from the discussion was how Nielsen plans to measure the channel’s performance since it has never done a FAST channel deal like this before. Moreover, you’re probably wondering why Lionsgate needs to ask Nielsen for help at all.
The FAST platforms have way more data on MovieSphere than Nielsen can gather
On the face of it, there is no reason Lionsgate should need Nielsen to collect the viewing data. The FAST providers know in detail who is watching what on their platforms.
For users registered with the service, providers like Pluto TV and Tubi can provide a rich set of usage data covering everything Lionsgate could possibly want to know. Even for unregistered users, the platforms can associate usage data with the device a viewer is using to watch. Since devices like TVs don’t change very often, they build up a detailed picture of the viewer using the device over time.
The data for registered and unregistered users allows the provider to create the reach, frequency, duration, and other metrics channel providers and advertisers crave. Moreover, the data set is huge. Pluto TV has 80 million monthly users and Tubi has about the same, allowing each company to amass a mountain of usage information.
Companies like Lionsgate that create and distribute FAST channels would very much like this data. However, they face two problems in getting it. First, each platform reports performance differently, making it hard to align information across platforms. But of much more importance is that most FAST platforms provide very little performance data to the channel owner. Multiple content providers have privately complained to me that the FAST platform providers don’t give enough information to run their business, and they claim some give no data at all!
While MovieSphere is running on Pluto TV, Tubi, and Vizio WatchFree+, those platforms clearly do not give Lionsgate the data it needs to run the channel. Otherwise, why would it pay Nielsen to help out? So, why aren’t they providing the data?
Why FAST platforms don’t want to share the data
The FAST platforms are building very profitable advertising businesses. For example, 100% of Vizio’s profit comes from its Platform+ business, which contains all the advertising businesses, including WatchFree+. The FAST platforms want to control as much of the advertising as possible. Since advertising runs on data, that means keeping as much of the data for themselves as possible.
Without the data, providers like Lionsgate are flying blind. They can’t improve channel and ad performance “to better return value” to their partners and themselves. That is why they feel compelled to turn to a company like Nielsen, which has no track record in FAST channel performance measurement!
