Warner Bros. Discovery has expanded its multi-year global agreement with Nielsen to include enhanced cross-platform audience measurement, according to a joint announcement from the companies. The deal will see WBD continue using Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel currency for TV ratings while also adopting Nielsen’s Advanced Audience suite, which blends demographic, behavioural and purchase-based data to give advertisers more granular targeting capabilities across both linear and streaming platforms.

The move comes as competition intensifies in the media measurement space. Global entertainment groups are facing mounting pressure from advertisers to prove the reach and effectiveness of campaigns across fragmented portfolios, spanning traditional broadcast networks and streaming platforms. For Nielsen, the partnership reinforces its position as the industry’s default currency at a time when new challengers are trying to redefine how cross-platform impact is measured.

BTB So What?

The transformation of premium video from brand-building medium to performance channel is becoming more concrete, with measurement emerging as the defining factor. In Southeast Asia, premium video-on-demand revenues rose 11% year-on-year in the first half of 2024 to US$895 million, even as subscription-video-on-demand subscriptions nudged past 48.8 million across five key markets. In MENA, digital entertainment is expected to account for roughly 74% of media-and-entertainment spending by 2028, with ad revenues growing annually at around 7.4% according to PwC. These trends expose a familiar gap: consumption is growing rapidly but unified, cross-platform measurement often lags. Brands are increasingly facing fragmented data across streaming, broadcast, and digital environments. Going forward, how well platforms and content owners embed measurement capabilities, not as add-ons but as core infrastructure, will increasingly divide those who win ad investment from those who don’t.