Significant Shift Ahead in Mexico’s Media Measurement: Implications for Advertisers
Mexico is making a significant shift from Nielsen’s media measurement to HR Media, marking a major change and bringing implications for advertisers and the media industry at large.
The Alianza para la Calidad de la Medición Multimedia en México, A.C. (ACAM) announced the switch from Nielsen to HR Media recently, indicating the change for video audience measurement services for 2025 and 2026. According to HR Media’s press release, the sample group will be expanded to reduce measurement variability, and new audiences will be identified through the incorporation of new technologies (such as out of home consumption and time shifted viewing). This transition presents exciting opportunities for more localized, data-driven insights. HR Media’s methodologies should allow for more granular audience tracking, particularly in digital spaces where media consumption is evolving rapidly.
One notable change: HR Media’s ratings and impressions are projected to be larger than Nielsen’s. Therefore, impression levels will also appear larger due to this shift. This could have a substantial impact on how we perceive audience size and reach, especially for media outlets that previously saw lower visibility in Nielsen’s data.
Businesses will need to adjust their strategies accordingly:
- Audience Targeting: With HR Media’s larger ratings, brands will need to refine targeting to reflect a broader or differently distributed audience. Further, the sample is expected to continue to grow, with a new increase expected in the fall of 2025. Advertisers need to pay attention to the adjustments to the universes (and negotiate with this in mind), as this could have implications if you are buying on a CPM basis. Nobody likes midyear surprises!
- Cross-Platform Campaigns: As measurement becomes more integrated across platforms, companies will need to rethink how they allocate budgets and optimize campaigns for the full media mix. Further, there will likely need to be some adjustments made to your optimal levels of ratings and ranges based on new video.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Brands must become more agile in using real-time insights to drive decisions, adjusting campaigns quickly based on the new metrics.
- Transparency and Trust: With the new system, transparency will continue to be key. It will be important for both clients and agencies to understand the adjustment and conversion factors being used from Nielsen to HR Media to be able to make the best decisions.
- Normalization Cost: It will be important to validate the rate conversions between measurement systems provided by the Networks, to ensure that they are not affected by seasonality or schedule distribution.
- Implications of Carryover: Advertisers need to understand the currency with which the carryover will be implemented and define this in advance.
This transition is an exciting opportunity to better understand and engage Mexican audiences better, with more efficient and effective targeting. Let’s embrace the change and use it to shape smarter, more effective marketing and media strategies.
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