
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 ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/08/2026
COW Jobs: Lead Generation Representative - Animation Services
Brie Clayton July 31, 2026
0 Comments
Lead Generation Representative - Animation Service...
01/08/2026
Emilie Lowe Shoots Award Winning Short Film Where Dead Things Grow with Blackmag...
01/08/2026
Early Registration Opens for the 2026 SMPTE Media Technology Summit
Brie Clayton July 31, 2026
0 Comments
Initial Program Announced Alongside New Medi...
31/07/2026
With an emphasis on local, the league is looking beyond the initial four teams t...
31/07/2026
The 2026 Sundance Institute Directors Lab fellows in Estes Park, Colorado (Photo by Gabe Rovick)
Dear Friends,
This has been an extraordinary year for our ar...
31/07/2026
Offers 360-degree sound placement in any DAW
Audiocube have just announced the launch of a new plug-in that embeds a complete 3D acoustic environment inside...
31/07/2026
10 new Chinese C-Pop voices introduced
While Sonarworks are best known to many for their room-correction software, their product range also includes an inno...
31/07/2026
Reimagines the vintage BBD sound character
PSPaudioware have now officially launched the new delay plug-in that they were previewing at GearExpo UK. Said to...
31/07/2026
The Savannah Bananas has built its reputation on refusing to play baseball by traditional rules, and the team's production arm Banana Ball TV (BTV) has draf...
31/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/07/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today opened early registration for the 2026 Media Technology Summit (MTS) and announced i...
31/07/2026
Clear-Com announced that Central Christian Church has transformed communication across its live production operations by implementing Clear-Com's LQ Seri...
31/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/07/2026
IBC has unveiled the finalists for the IBC2026 Innovation Awards, recognising collaborative projects from around the world that solve real-world challenges and ...
31/07/2026
From focus puller to colourist
Caroline Shawley July 30, 2026
0 Comments
Ana Mar a Ormaza shares her story of instinct, storytelling and finding a cre...
31/07/2026
Amazon Prime Documentary Andata e Ritorno Relies on Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton July 30, 2026
0 Comments
DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Clou...
31/07/2026
Krotos Launches Video to Sound Plugin for DaVinci Resolve
Brie Clayton July 30, 2026
0 Comments
AI-assisted workflow helps editors add synchronized, p...
31/07/2026
Athletics, Camogie, the Dublin Horse Show, the FAI Cup, Golf, Hockey, the UEFA C...
31/07/2026
Luxembourg, July 31, 2026 - Pursuant to the liquidity contract entered into by SES with BNP Paribas as of 7 April 2026, please see the below update on the progr...
31/07/2026
Luxembourg, July 31, 2026 - SES today published a restatement of its FY2025 EU Taxonomy (Article 8) disclosure. The restatement updates the FY2025 EU Taxonomy d...
31/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Mercedes-Benz Ireland will return as the offi...
31/07/2026
RT Supporting the Arts is delighted to spotlight a diverse range of arts, culture and heritage events taking place across Ireland this August. From major festi...
30/07/2026
CP Communications provided RF audio, RF video, communications, RF coordination, ...
30/07/2026
OpenDrives has been included in CRN's 2026 Storage 100 list in the Software-Defined Storage category. The annual list, selected by the CRN editorial team, r...
30/07/2026
LATAM Airlines has selected SES to provide multi-orbit inflight connectivity to its fleet of Airbus and Embraer aircraft. More than 60 aircraft - including Airb...
30/07/2026
Tagboard has launched the Producer API, an open interface that allows key commands in Tagboard's live production environment to be triggered from external d...
30/07/2026
FOX Sports and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) have announced a multi-year agreement with Del Mar Thoroughbred Club that will make FOX Sports the exclusi...
30/07/2026
ABC Commercial has launched four free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels on LG Smart TVs across North America, Great Britain, and select countrie...
30/07/2026
The Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament will return to Riyadh on October 21, 22, and 24, streaming live on Netflix at no additional cost to subscribers....
30/07/2026
Central Christian Church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois has deployed Clear-Com's LQ...
30/07/2026
Blackmagic Design has released the UltraStudio Express 3G family, a pair of USB4 capture and playback devices compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux computers ...
30/07/2026
ESPN has reached a media rights agreement with the Women's Pro Baseball League (WPBL), making ESPN the national streaming home of the league's 2026 seas...
30/07/2026
Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and the Professional Fighters League (PFL) have announced a merger that will operate under the MVP banner. PFL CEO John Martin wi...
30/07/2026
The Columbus Blue Jackets will simulcast all game broadcasts across television and radio beginning with the 2026-27 NHL season. Under the new format, the televi...
30/07/2026
TMRW Sports has selected Populous as architect for a purpose-built stadium for its professional flag football league, being developed in partnership with the NF...
30/07/2026
SiriusXM has announced SiriusXM Sports Pass, a new subscription plan launching September 1 that bundles the company's sports audio programming into a single...
30/07/2026
Leagues, broadcasters, and technologists gather to tackle cloud economics, distr...
30/07/2026
A major player in the cloud-based solutions, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has conti...
30/07/2026
The NBA will provide production for all local game broadcasts, including pregame and postgame coverage...