
Once a year, the leaders from advertising agencies, global consumer brands, digital platforms and others across the media ecosystem gather in the south of France for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Through panel discussions and interviews, the different media players explore what's keeping marketers up at night, and what's being done about it.
During this year's festival, Megan Clarken, Chief Commercial Officer, Nielsen Global Media, emphasized the importance of data and diversity. Additionally, she and other Nielsen executives were vocal throughout the week on where they think the advertising industry is heading, with key themes emerging around the expanding definition of TV, making addressable TV possible and the power of big data.
THE CONVERGENCE OF TV & DIGITAL ADVERTISING The rise of digital video and the fragmentation of the media industry have left brands looking for consistent metrics and measurement of advertising across both digital and linear video. As a result, independent third-party measurement is becoming increasingly crucial to understand the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
Digital Players & Platforms Want To Compete with TV
Megan Clarken, Chief Commercial Officer, Nielsen Global Media: What we actually see happening is that the digital-first players and the digital platforms for premium video have decided that all of the data that they have is just confusing the advertiser. So they want to compete against TV, and so they're moving across to be able to compare to TV.
Expanding Streaming Video On-Demand (SVOD) Content Ratings Across Platforms
Megan Clarken: Everyday [the clients of SVOD players] want to know whether or not they're getting what they paid for or what they're being paid in terms of their content, and they want it to be done by a third-party independent player.
MAKING ADDRESSABLE ADVERTISING POSSIBLE While digital players are looking for measurement that makes them more comparable to TV, traditional TV entities are increasingly interested in the personalization digital presents. Therefore, addressable advertising-reaching individual households with customized TV ads similar to those in the digital space-has become top of mind for many marketers. Not surprisingly, measurement will play a key role for advertisers in this space globally.
Addressability Is Finally Here
Vikram Somaya, Chief Data Officer, Nielsen: I think there are finally real ways for programmers to bring addressability to television. A lot of the issues had been, certainly from the sell side, 'How did this actually work with measurement on which everything was transacted?'
Nielsen Prepping Platform For Addressable TV, Ad Decisioning
Kelly Abcarian, General Manager, Advanced Video Advertising, Nielsen: First and foremost, measurement is the bedrock of what Nielsen provides to the marketplace and what we'll continue to do. We're really focused on how we unlock addressable in a way that brings standardization across all those impressions.
Nielsen O'Grady Plans New UK Addressable Offering
Matt O'Grady, International Commercial Leader, Nielsen Global Media: Nielsen is investing greatly in addressable. Addressable TV shows great promise. TV is going to be sold with addressable, over the top and data-driven linear TV. And we have solutions that we're planning to roll out for all of them globally.
HARNESSING THE POWER OF BIG DATA Digital has created more data than ever before, but not all data is the same. The quality of the data is incredibly important. For brands and advertisers eager to leverage new technology like machine learning and artificial intelligence, good data is necessary to create valuable insights.
How Panels Improve Big Data
Dave Hohman, EVP & Managing Director, Demand-side Media, Nielsen: Panels at Nielsen are being used, and I think will continue to be used as a sort of a source of truth. When you're looking at big data sets, they can have a lot of noise or bias in them, whether intentional or not.
Machine Learning Speeds Up Action
Linda Dupree, CEO, Nielsen Catalina Solutions: We've been working on machine learning and artificial intelligence for the last five years, with a lot of testing and rigor. And in the next few months, we're adding machine learning to our targeting products, as well as to our measurement products.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
19/03/2026
Live sports production increases complexity, with dynamic audio levels and an overall philosophy that encourages transient volume spikes
Fourteen years ago, Am...
19/03/2026
Advanced Systems Group, a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, announced the appointment of Peter Thordarson to the newly cr...
19/03/2026
For this senior from the Bay Area, the speed and pressure of live sports production play right into her strengths
In the live-sports-video industry, the future...
19/03/2026
Grass Valley has expanded its long-term partnership with University of Pittsburg...
19/03/2026
Audio-Technica has released the ATV-SG1 and ATV-SG1LE On-Camera Shotgun Microphones, designed for use with DSLR, mirrorless SLR, and other cameras.
The ATV-SG1...
19/03/2026
Harmonic (booth W2831) announces updates to its XOS Advanced Media Processor aim...
19/03/2026
DAZN and Top Rank have announced a multi-year partnership that will bring Top Ra...
19/03/2026
IHSE, a provider of KVM systems, has announced a partnership with Cyviz AS, a provider of technology solutions for collaboration and mission-critical operations...
19/03/2026
Net Insight has appointed Larissa G rner-Meeus as Chief Product Officer. She joins the company's executive management team.
G rner-Meeus holds a Dipl-Ing. ...
19/03/2026
Leader Electronics of Europe has appointed Rob Stanley as Regional Sales Manager for the UK and Northern Europe. In the role, he will manage key accounts and ha...
19/03/2026
FIFA has announced that YouTube will be a Preferred Platform for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Under the agreement, FIFA's Media Partners will be able to publis...
19/03/2026
New features across mobile, connected devices, and automotive platforms undersco...
19/03/2026
PSSI Global Services has appointed Ben Bradshaw as Director of Product and Netwo...
19/03/2026
Cobalt Digital has announced its NAB 2026 product lineup, which includes additio...
19/03/2026
Sportradar has released a new report, Innovation in Sports Media: The Next Era of Sports Viewing, examining how the sports viewing experience in the U.S. is evo...
19/03/2026
Matrox Video has been awarded a three-year framework agreement to supply its Con...
19/03/2026
CBS Sports' Jason Cohen and TNT Sports' Chris Brown lead the charge on n...
19/03/2026
A1 Dave Grundtvig and his team deploy plenty of mics to capture the sounds and energy from the stands as well the court
March Madness is a tournament in which ...
19/03/2026
In 2021, we launched EQUAL, a program designed to address an industry reality that persists: Women artists, songwriters, and producers too often face fewer oppo...
19/03/2026
Latest EZKeys 2 expansion arrives
Toontrack's staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a on...
19/03/2026
New generative AI plug-in due in May 2026
Roland have announced the upcoming launch of a new generative AI tool created in collaboration with Sony Computer ...
19/03/2026
Nick Williams updates users on insolvency process
Nick Williams, the CEO of Native Instruments, has released the following official statement regarding thei...
19/03/2026
Iconic Swedish mic manufacturer back in action
Legendary Swedish microphone manufacturer Milab have announced that production is now fully underway, and mic...
19/03/2026
Acclaimed saturation unit goes virtual
Freqport's Freqtube FT1 (reviewed here in SOS February 2023) offers a convenient way to integrate real valve-base...
19/03/2026
The discontinuation of loss-making business activities as part of the restructur...
19/03/2026
Silicon Valley satire The Audacity premieres 15 April on SBS and SBS On Demand
19 March, 2026
Media releases
From one of the writer/producers of Succession...
19/03/2026
SBS brings communities together at Bondi Pavilion for Harmony Week multilingual ...
19/03/2026
Clarification from SBS regarding Western Sydney expansion
19 March, 2026
Media releases
From an SBS spokesperson:
SBS wishes to clarify some media coverag...
19/03/2026
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, is pleased to announce the appointment of Rob Stanley as Regional Sales Manager - UK & Northern Euro...
19/03/2026
The recently announced joint venture between Accedo One and Magine Pro has been officially launched as Leyra. The new company will combine the two complementary...
19/03/2026
Budapest, Hungary, March 2026 - Demand for traditional matrix switching remains strong across live events, rental and staging markets. With a reputation for rel...
19/03/2026
DPA Microphones adds to its CORE microphone selection with the 4097 CORE Micro Shotgun, which delivers a new level of clarity, headroom and sonic transparency...
19/03/2026
Starfish Technologies will present the latest releases of its TS Splicer (Win) and TS Splicer (K8) at NAB Show 2026, together with a new Monitoring Dashboard de...
19/03/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming solutions, has announced that TrueVisions NOW, a leading streaming platform in Thailand, and part of the TrueVis...
19/03/2026
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced significant enhancements to its XOS Advanced Media Processor that lower the cost of broadcast distribution while enablin...
19/03/2026
Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiative has announ...
19/03/2026
Magewell a developer of innovative, high-performance video I/O and IP workflow solutions will be at the 2026 NAB Show on booth C6113. In addition to several...
19/03/2026
Triveni Digital, a trusted leader in ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 service delivery, data broadcasting and quality assurance solutions, today announced it will showcase...
19/03/2026
2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Preview
April 19 22
Las Vegas
Booth N.1328
Summary:
At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Imagine Communications will showcase the lat...
19/03/2026
Broadcast playout leader highlights innovation and industry collaboration
Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist...
19/03/2026
Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking technologies, is highlighting remarkable advances in performance at NAB Show (booth N1...
19/03/2026
Intinor will showcase several new developments to the Direkt platform at NAB 2026, including enhanced SRT monitoring, expanded HDR transport capabilities and su...
19/03/2026
Broadcasters are rebuilding live operations workflows around IP delivery as satellite and dedicated fibre distribution decline, according to new research from C...
19/03/2026
Berklee Popular Music Institute's 24th Showcase Channels '80s Prom Nosta...
19/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...