CLAIRE BROWN: Oh Hi, It S Claire Brown. How Are You Doing?

What is it to Watch TV/Video Dialogue July 13, 2016

RICHARD ZACKON: Now, there’s a 323 number. If you’re a 323 number, you say, “Hey, it’s me,” and give your name. 323-791-6576.

CLAIRE BROWN: Oh hi, it’s Claire Brown. How are you doing?

RICHARD ZACKON: Hi Claire.

CLAIRE BROWN: I’m on mute.

RICHARD ZACKON: You’re not anymore. Thank you. Okay. You can speak. [Miscellaneous conversation.] Okay, it’s 12:02 and who’s here is here. Patty’s here. Hi Patty. Patty is with Green Man Group. Herman, okay; so we have a lot of Nielsen people here.

Okay, so we’re going to go. And I want to thank Naomi who stepped up here in the last minute because the main topic I wanted to discuss today in this kind of ongoing series about which I’m learning how to do it a little better is about the neuro research that we’re doing, that the CRE’s doing that Naomi seems to be at the heart. Patty’s here too. They’re both working pretty hard on it. And I had some questions to get us started on [inaudible -01:44] and neuro. And I’m going to, just to say the conversation, the conversation I had with Tim at the top, we had done some research. I’m going to show some results that we showed last week, the week before in Las Vegas at the Nielsen Client Meeting we’re showing on a call today at 3:00 and if anyone can be on that call, wants to be on that call but isn’t now registered, send it to Shelley and she can get you on the call. It’s a webinar.

And it was a study done by Hub Research looking at four different screens – TV, laptop, tablet and smart phone – but the question, that we didn’t report any of the results but I found pretty interesting had to do with the posture of people when they watch television. And what surprised me was that more people watched TV reclining, I should say lying on a sofa or a bed than sitting up on a chair or a seat. No one watches standing. So, it was somewhat artificial, but nonetheless, it probably reflects something underlying there.

Tim, you’ve not seen research on [inaudible – 02:53], is that correct?

TIM: That’s correct.

RICHARD DRASAL: Which is pretty interesting because you think that might have something to do with attentiveness and other pieces. We picked this up in a secondary manner, but I find it interesting all the same.

So I’m looking at some phone numbers without names. Has anyone not said who they are and they’re on the call? Now would be a good time to say who you are.

PATTY: Oh, it’s Patty.

RICHARD DRASAL: Hi Patty.

PATTY WINKLEY: Hi, how are you? Patty Winkley.

RICHARD DRASAL: Okay, Patty, you’re on both a phone and a green screen, but that’s fine. I don’t know if you’re sitting or lying back or standing up or whatever posture you’re in. It’s just right.

PATTY WINKLEY: Okay great.

RICHARD DRASAL: Okay thank you. And Naomi, you’re our star today.

NAOMI: Okay.

RICHARD DRASAL: I am deep in Naomi’s debt because I called upon her last minute. These are not carefully rehearsed answers on her part. But Naomi, I am so impressed with the work that she’s doing with Nielsen Consumer Neuro on our Neuro study which I knew something about. I asked her if she could share here because I’d be interested in people not involved in that study. I realize that there are not that many of you on the phone not involved, but I’d be interested in your responses.

And let me just give a little background for that study. It’s a, in the end, a second part; it’s over a million dollars, is that correct – just to get people’s attention, Naomi?

NAOMI: Yes. A little bit over a million dollars.

RICHARD DRASAL: A little bit over a million. So you guys work very hard to keep it under, but it’s fine. It’s really two parts to the study. What we’re doing is literally taking advantage of Nielsen’s investments in neuro, which is fairly new, having purchased Interscope. We have some research Naomi will tell us about.

The context of this research and we’ve not reported out results yet; results will be reported out in September in the event we’re doing, but part of it had to do with what researchers I think are something like me and there’s a new tool, a new toy, how we want to play with it. And so here is a new tool in neurometrics, biometrics. It’s not brand new, it’s been around for a while, but it’s been with us in different ways. And so we wanted to see what it would provide.

We’re looking at two types of behavior with the neurometric tool that we have. We’re looking at viewing behavior. Actually, maybe three types – viewing behavior, distracted viewing behavior – there are other people or other devices, and we’re looking at people meter unquestioned behavior, which is pretty interesting. And I don’t know what kind of neurometric or biometric scrutiny that has been the subject during the past, but we will have some. And our underlying purpose in all of this is measurement.

So, I gave you questions I was going to ask you, Naomi, maybe not all of them. I hadn’t yet heard your answers, so if you can share with the people on the call what CRE’s research questions are in this.

NAOMI: Sure. Thanks for the introduction, Richard, and for the opportunity to speak with all of you.

So CRE approached us with the question about what is TV viewing behavior today? How do consumers watch TV today? So the way that we’ve designed this research is actually split it up into two different pieces because what we want to answer…there are a few questions that we really want to understand. We want to answer how do consumers view TV when they’re given the natural choice of whatever it is that they want to watch under a different context.

So Richard mentioned there is solo viewing conditions when you just view TV naturally without any other interactions or distractions, and then there are different types of distraction areas. There’s the distraction available when you have a second screen device at your disposal. There’s the distraction available when you are watching with a partner. And there are the distractions available when you watch TV with a co-viewing partner, but you also have secondary devices at your disposal.

So all of this applies to how people choose content, how do people decide what to watch, how do they watch advertising or avoid advertising, perhaps, and what is it that they’re doing on their second screen devices and/or the topics of conversation that they’re having with their co-viewing partners? So all of that is enmeshed through the overall kind of research questions that we have and the way that we designed it is by splitting it into two pieces.

So we have a phase 1, which is some of the insights that we’ll be sharing in September, which is truly kind of an in lab controlled experiment. When all else being equal, you’re in an isolated environment, how does viewing occur under these different contexts – solo viewing, second screen, co-viewing etc.

The participants are given the opportunity to watch whatever it is they want. Then we actually as add in a curated element which is still part of that in lab where participants are not given a choice as to what to view, but they’re all watching one 30-minute sitcom, which is kind of a popular syndicated comedy with a natural complement of ad loads. That’s where we add in additional metrics from a consumer nurse line’s perspective, so at that point, we’re not just measuring behavior, but we’re adding in some emotional responses, some expressed facial responses, and visual attentiveness as well.

There will be a phase two component, which I won’t go into too much detail, but it takes all of this research and it puts it out of the lab and into the homes. And at that point is where we really incorporate the people meter behavior, people meter button pushing behavior. We go into the homes of FTO and convergence panelists and we actually watch how they view television with the button pushing behavior. And we’ll also have a control cell that is not a button pushing cell so that we can compare those behaviors. That’s kind of the overall picture.

Richard, would you like me to go into the tools at this point.

RICHARD DRASAL: [Inaudible – 09:07].

NAOMI: Would you like me to go into the tools now that we’ll be using to measure all of this?

RICHARD DRASAL: Yeah, what I didn’t hear you, it might have been embedded in what you said; there were like four specific research questions which…

NAOMI: Yeah. So, specifically, we want to understand how do…what is the mode of distracted viewing behavior? What occurs in a distracted viewing environment? How does slow and co-viewing environment situations differ? Within programming vs. commercial content. Are there differences in emotional response when you’re viewing content relative to advertising? And are there…how does the second screen actually affect the spectrum of distracted viewing?

So there’s a theory that distracted viewing completely takes away from viewing of television and actually is the kind of cause of that, but perhaps there are other elements when TV viewing occurs, distracted viewing is not necessarily the primary component of it, but you still actually capture attention to the primary screen for TV and ads. So those are the four buckets that we’re looking at.

RICHARD DRASAL: It’s certainly not the man in the street, but you’re going to be the scholar in the street, and I’m wondering in the role of scholar in the street what’s your response to that battery of research questions in this whole idea of neuro metric research on viewing.

VINCE [SIMON]: Well, I want to hear more. Obviously, you can slice the bucket many different ways, you know, and somebody can come up with four other constructs, I suppose. But the point is where do these lead to.

RICHARD DRASAL: Tell us more.

NAOMI: Sure. So that’s exactly correct. One of the ways that we’re actually capturing all of this information is via behavioral coding second by second. So a variety of different tools that are at our disposal, one of the key pieces of information is natural behavior and examining natural behavior passively. So all of the experiences that participants have both in-home and in lab are completely prohibited, and every second of that experience is captured via in-room cameras. So we can actually cover the back end, which is what we’ve been doing in our analysis. What are people watching? When are they changing the channel? When are they speaking to each other? And what is the content of those conversations, first of all? That’s kind of what’s observed behavior.

From a passive data collection, we also are recording their behavior on their devices, on their second screens via passive metering tool that we have access to. So that we actually know when are they using Facebook? When are they using email? When are they texting? What are the occasions of use? Under what context? When it’s content, when it’s advertising and so forth.

Then we’re employing some additional consumer neuro science. So that’s where we get the emotional response. That’s measured via a device that is worn on the wrist that captures your valvanic skin response and your heart rate. That’s kind of individual level data per participant that’s aggregated across an audience, and then we can start to look at fluctuations in emotional response based on participant behaviors under these different contexts.

We also employ facial coding in order to understand how expressed emotion changes depending on the context of what it is that you’re watching. So when during the natural experience when people watched whatever it is they want, they’re not all watching the same thing. So the expressed emotion is used more as an incidence of expression. Are they smiling thanks to the content on the screen? Are they smiling thanks to what is on their devices?

During the [inaudible – 12:51] portion of the controlled piece, you’ll actually be able to get a sense, from a diagnostic perspective, what elements of the creative are triggering expressed emotional response.

Normally, when you watch [inaudible – 13:04] it’s kind of a passive viewing experience. There shouldn’t be too many expressions of emotion. But when they occur, they’re meaningful if they occur for the majority of the audience. So that’s what we’re looking for and we’re comparing that between the different [inaudible – 13:17].

Finally, we are also using…well, not finally. We are also using eye tracking in order to get a sense of exposure to branding, because the attention to branding changes depending on the environment that you’re in, whether you’re in a solo viewing environment or a co-viewing environment. The assumption is distractions will occur that take you away from primary branding during that...is that really the case? So how long does that attention occur or take?

So also the self-report data. So at the end of the experience there are questions asked about recall memorability and so forth. And then finally, all of that is integrated into one cohesive report so we can tell a story using those different pieces of data.

RICHARD DRASAL: Naomi, what do you anticipate we’re going to learn from this?

NAOMI: Well, I think the…

RICHARD DRASAL: Well, you’ve had the opportunity to write about observation already.

NAOMI: Right, right. I think that even in our conversations, one of the key areas that we’re starting to see is the process of choice and selection in choosing content. So channel changing behavior. And how does that influence…how does that change depending on the environment? If you’re a solo viewer vs. you have other moments of distraction, how do you choose and how long does it take before you change the channel? That’ll be more behavioral. But from kind of an overall sense, what is the spectrum of distraction? Is there a hierarchy to distraction?