When Nielsen announced the launch of its beta program focused on testing addressable advertising on linear TV programming on smart TVs, the U.S. was still more than two months away from wide-scale shelter-in-place restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The original plan was to establish a ‘Beta Lab’ setup at the TV programmers’ premises so that they could test Nielsen’s Addressable TV solution against their own TV networks. When nationwide self-quarantine mandates became a reality, Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising (AVA) team knew it couldn’t sideline the program until businesses were allowed to re-open. With a timeline to go live after the completion of a successful beta program, the AVA team knew it needed to innovate quickly to stay on track.
Prior to COVID-19, Nielsen, along with others in the industry, had invested time, resources and human capital to help chart a path for addressable TV advertising. Smart TVs, which are now present in 53% of U.S. homes, enabled this progress with several players, including Nielsen, making great technological strides and building capabilities that deliver addressable TV at scale. It’s taken the industry nearly two decades to achieve this progress, and Nielsen’s AVA team knew this work was far too important to put on hold. Despite the inability to work together in person, the AVA team quickly aligned on a strategy to facilitate the testing of addressable linear TV ads within the confines of a work-from-home (WFH) environment.
“For both marketers and publishers, addressability has become more important across linear TV because they need ads to work more efficiently and deliver greater flexibility and value than ever before. Nielsen’s addressable TV ad solution empowers inventory owners with additional sales options to optimize the value of their ad inventory—but not before proper beta testing,” said Kelly Abcarian, General Manager, Advanced Video Advertising, Nielsen.
该战略要求开发一个虚拟实验室，其功能包括一个在线门户、关于关键测试指标的双周报告、一个用于执行实时节目（和预定广告）的实时视频馈送，以及一个用于存储每次成功的可寻址广告替换录制视频的录制库。为了让测试计划继续进行，团队成员将自己的客厅、卧室和地下室变成了开发中心，为虚拟实验室提供动力。为了进行直播，同事们架设了一台摄像机，拍摄两台电视：一台调谐到网络的实时线性馈送，另一台用于播放实时可寻址广告插播。有了这两台电视机，客户就可以登录在线门户，观看实时线性信号或在日程允许的情况下（通过存储的录像）执行的可寻址广告。
尼尔森还为项目参与者建立了家庭实验室，将包括可寻址电视在内的所有必要设备送到员工家中。这本身就给尼尔森带来了后勤方面的挑战，尼尔森需要克服这些挑战，包括为电视配置所需的软件、使其保持最新状态、创建安装设置说明以及包装所有设备以免在运输过程中损坏。
"尼尔森高级视频广告业务运营高级副总裁布莱恩-詹茨（Brian Jentz）表示："重要的是，在前所未有的挑战中，尼尔森团队并不是独自创新和适应前进的。"我们的测试版合作伙伴，即电视节目制作商，正在与我们一起努力和创新，这一点我们非常高兴地看到"。
在可寻址空间中，不乏挑战，尤其是在当今世界。每次广告投放的最终目标都是成功地将动态广告取代现有的底层广告。在测试过程中，尼尔森的 AVA 团队制定了两个主要关键绩效指标，以确定测试程序在虚拟操作条件下的成功程度：替换成功率和替换准确率。该团队还跟踪像素化和音频质量。最终目标是尽可能无缝地插入目标广告，而不会对观众造成任何视觉或听觉干扰。迄今为止，在整个测试过程中，AVA 团队生成的 KPI 指标远远超出了我们的目标，这充分说明了技术的质量以及团队在这种前所未有的条件下所表现出的聪明才智。
While innovation is hard especially during a global pandemic, we quickly realized that our innovation did not need to be limited to the addressable platform itself. If there is one thing the pandemic has taught us, it is that staring into the face of adversity is the best preparation to ensure future success. As Kelly has said, “it is from uncertainty and the unknown when real innovation emerges,” that being true, then the best is yet to come.
在下面的视频中，DAI 观察员 Brad Rouzer 演示了尼尔森 AVA 虚拟实验室的设置。
