The Current State of Local TV Measurement
For years, audience numbers for local cable and local broadcast have been underreported, depreciating the power they hold in reaching viewers. Measurement based on “panel-only” data had resulted in an under-counting of audience and impression availability. To be exact, less than 0.1% of TV households in many local markets have historically been used as the basis of measurement.
This paints an imperfect picture of viewing habits, resulting in advertisers undermining the importance of local cable and minimizing it in their planning, despite all the value it provides.
A New Measurement Currency for Local TV
In 2025, Nielsen local TV ratings is undergoing a change in which it will add Big Data – data from MVPD set-top boxes – including Comcast – in addition to its local viewer panels. This “new measurement currency” for local TV will provide a more granular and accurate understanding of local viewing behavior.
This new approach has already been proven to show a more accurate representation for local TV viewership: Early analysis shows double-digit percent increases in demo viewership across Effectv insertable networks with Big Data, including meaningful new impressions on networks that were underreported with panel-only measurement.
More explicitly, there have been substantial increases in market representation in places like Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Memphis, Minneapolis, Nashville, and Washington DC, which are seeing an average of around 19% increase in total impressions across insertable cable nets based on the new measurement.
For the industry, this means an increase in reliability. Through this new measurement, we will gain greater viewership stability and ratings—meaning more campaign consistency. It also means more impression availability, with new understanding of content and networks and programs that have historically been “zero-rated.” Ultimately, this validates the value of linear inventory where it wasn’t captured or recognized before.
So, What Does This Mean for Advertisers?
Advertisers can now better validate their local TV advertising campaigns from Effectv and other media providers due to more accurate measurement. They’ll also be able to better understand today’s TV audiences and have more confidence that they are actually reaching those audiences.
This will also offer the opportunity to find new audiences in places they may not have included on campaigns before since measurement suggested that the impressions and households weren’t there. It will also mean that advertisers have more choice of networks, beyond just the “Top 10”, to include in their campaigns to reach new and additional audiences.
But more importantly, this new measurement reinstates confidence in traditional TV advertising measurement, allowing advertisers to once again tell their brand stories on the big screen, which is ultimately more effective than “cheap reach” vehicles like social media ads. And there is research to prove it: In an analysis of ad effectiveness in multiscreen TV campaigns, it was found that the strongest memories are most effectively achieved through premium long-form TV advertising. Ads viewed in the TV environment had 2.2x greater unaided recall than ads viewed in a mobile environment.
The Power of Local Cable Television
Cable television has always offered advertisers an avenue to effectively reach audiences in premium environments, including high-quality programming like local news and sports. This major transformation of how the industry measures local TV viewing will mean that advertisers no longer have to question or defend the inclusion of local cable in their media campaigns.
Local cable has always been valuable for TV advertisers, now it’s finally getting the credit.
