Cleveland – April 3, 2019 – The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) announced today the successful transmission of a Nielsen audience measurement watermark using the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmission standard. The transmission is part of an ongoing collaboration preparing broadcasters and manufacturers for the transition to the “Next Gen TV” standard.
The successful installation and transmission of Nielsen watermarks—inaudible signals in a program’s audio that helps identify the program for audience measurement purposes—was completed last week at the NAB/Consumer Technology Association (CTA™) ATSC 3.0 test station located in Cleveland, OH, hosted at Tribune Media-owned WJW. The station is serving as a “living laboratory” to test features, equipment and technologies of Next Gen TV and understand the real-world capabilities of the standard.
“Broadcasters are eager to deliver interactive benefits and dazzling features through Next Gen TV to our millions of viewers, and this milestone brings us another step closer towards the deployment and adoption of Next Gen TV,” said NAB Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny. “We thank Nielsen for their hard work, and we will continue working with them and others to bring Next Gen TV to market.”
“Nielsen is thrilled with the successful transmission of our watermarks, which will enable measurement of the impact of the Next Gen TV standard with audiences,” said Catherine Herkovic, Executive Vice President, Managing Director, Local Television. “Nielsen has been a longstanding partner of the broadcast community since the early days of television, and these transmissions validate that Nielsen audience measurement performs optimally with next-generation digital TV standards.”
The Next Gen TV standard was developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), a cooperative effort that includes the broadcast, consumer electronics, cable, satellite, motion picture and computer industries. The IP-based standard represents an entire next-generation broadcasting system, from the initial transmission to presentation to the consumer. The new system supports innovative technologies such as Ultra High-Definition (UHD) TV, advanced emergency alert information, increased programming streams and channels, mobile broadcast TV, immersive audio, interactivity features and datacasting.
About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global measurement and data analytics company that provides the most complete and trusted view available of consumers and markets worldwide. Our approach marries proprietary Nielsen data with other data sources to help clients around the world understand what’s happening now, what’s happening next, and how to best act on this knowledge. For more than 90 years Nielsen has provided data and analytics based on scientific rigor and innovation, continually developing new ways to answer the most important questions facing the media, advertising, retail and fast-moving consumer goods industries.
An S&P 500 company, Nielsen has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
About NAB The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America’s broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.
Contact
Nielsen
Dawn Rowan
dawn.rowan@nielsen.com
NAB
Dennis Wharton
202-429-5350
