Nielsen has promoted Scott Brown to head of audience measurement, which carries a general manager (GM) title at the TV ratings currency company.
Brown comes from the tech/products side and was formerly chief technology officer (CTO) of Nielsen products. As GM, he’ll continue to update Nielsen’s measurement products and, ultimately, drive the unification of linear TV, advanced TV and digital video solutions.
He is also spearheading the effort to incorporate addressable advertising into TV measurement.
“Consumers are watching premium video in a fundamentally different way today than they were even five years ago. The opportunity for marketers is enormous. We’re bringing together the ability to effectively plan, optimize and measure through the full funnel so that marketers can monetize this opportunity to the fullest extent,” Eric Bosco, chief product officer for Nielsen Media, said in a press release. “Scott will play a critical role in bridging all of our measurement solutions together to ensure that we meet the evolving needs of the market.”
“Marketers and publishers want to understand their audience across all platforms in a simple way. They want to understand where the true incremental reach comes from and how different platforms and services perform to ultimately help inform both advertising strategies as well as program and content decisioning,” Brown said. “Nielsen has historically measured media types and platforms independently. However, as convergence across all media types continue, the industry will require a single methodology for a holistic view that captures how digital, connected TV and other platforms perform alongside linear TV. This is the holy grail.”
Until this promotion, Brown’s title had been head of TV & audio products. His CTO years predated that job.
As Nielsen CTO, Brown led the technical implementation of its measurement products across mobile, computer and connected TVs, including the migration of its infrastructure, to the cloud.
Nielsen is the TV ratings currency company, which is to say its data provides the industry’s primary measurement for negotiating ad sales and buys.