smart tv in someone's home

BBO Homes Changes within Viewing Habits and Measurements for Television 

The broad market TV universe as we know it will be changing forever with one small shift. Ratings and impressions will soon include BBO (Broadband Only) homes which will grow the TV viewership measurement universe substantially. Nielsen, a marketing research firm, is close to launching their new methodology. That is to say, Nielsen will add in the BBO homes into the currently measured pool of TV household viewers.

The old definition of a TV household was “a home with one or more televisions and has either a cable or satellite subscription or a digital antenna capable of receiving an over the air signal.” The new TV household definition will be the old definition plus the BBO homes. Just what is a BBO Home? A BBO (Broadband Only) home is defined as “a home that receives video exclusively through a broadband internet connection.” Some examples of BBO platforms that carry local signals are: Fubo TV, Hulu Live, YoutubeTV, Sling and AT&T Now/ DIRECTV Now.

The addition of the BBO homes will have a significant impact on how media buyers and advertisers evaluate their advertising’s reach. Those homes were not being counted towards the ratings or impressions that each program was receiving.

 

BBO Homes Impact

Over the past couple of years, we have seen a substantial increase in OTT/CTV (Over the Top/ Connected TV) viewership. These are categorized as BBO homes and traditional media measurement was not able to accurately account for those homes’ viewing habits. With Nielsen’s addition of BBO homes to the universe, there will now be a more accurate measurement of viewers per program.

For example, let’s say there are 400,000 linear TV households and 75,000 BBO homes in a particular market. That’s now a total of 475,000 TV households.

  • The old methodology from Nielsen would have only given us information on the 400,000 households even when the other 75,000 BBO households would still watch the same local programming.
  • The new methodology from Nielsen will include all 475,000 households in the market which will show a better representation of the viewing habits of the market.
  • This could show increased ratings for some programs … or might result in some programs that are favored by BBO households overtaking other programming in the ratings.

 

The TV media landscape is a growing and changing universe. But as viewing habits change, RCG continues to develop strategies that adapt to new methodologies that include BBO Homes and TV viewership. Contact our team to help your business stay in front of the changing media landscape and generate leads.