Brands are back – bigger and better than ever before, with the official launch of PAMS/CPS Fusion data.
Initiated and funded by the Publishers Research Council (PRC), with Consumer Panel Survey (CPS) data supplied by Nielsen, the product will see the fusion of the existing PRC PAMS 2017 data, to real audited and scanned purchase data, based on 4 000 South African households.
Nielsen Watch MD Terry Murphy comments: ‘Realising the dire need for up-to-date brand purchase data, not only for the advertisers and publishers within the existing PAMS study, but the advertising and marketing sector as a whole, the PRC has spearheaded this initiative and we are proud to work with them to make this world-class product widely available to media planners across the industry.’
This follows a vacuum in the local market in terms of branded data since the last release of AMPS in 2015. In the three years since, things have changed dramatically in the market including the development of the new generation segmentation model, the SEMs. However, despite this, media planners and clients have had no way of following the changing behaviour of the consumers buying their brands.
The Nielsen CPS advantage
Against this backdrop, the PAMS/CPS Fusion data will greatly assist advertisers and agencies in their media planning.
One of the biggest strengths of fusing PAMS with the well-established Nielsen CPS panel is that it is based on audited/verified brand measurement, as opposed to the recall methodology used in other studies. This means that CPS collects actual, scanned data from households, at least once a month, resulting in 48 000 household visits a year, and measuring over 200 000 shopping occasions.
This results in massive coverage of more than 3 000 consumer goods brands and 190 product categories, which will be further enhanced by the fusion with PAMS that already includes motor, finance, retail and cellphone branded data.
Seamless integration
Murphy goes on to explain that the new product features an extract of CPS data, and will provide a measure of Heavy, Medium and Light buyers, across categories and brands. What this means, is that clients who have, or want to subscribe to the entire Nielsen CPS offering, can link the data within the PAMS media context into the deeper, longitudinal data that they have access to in the full CPS study. ‘This will allow them to take data from the market straight into their media choices allowing them to plan in a deeper, far more seamless manner,’ explains Murphy.
Looking at the broader implications of the launch of PAMS/CPS Fusion data, Murphy explains that as one of the leading global measurement and data analytics firm, Nielsen is bringing this world-class innovation to the South African market. ‘Nielsen is now able to apply that expertise to the local market in partnership with the PRC, creating a win-win situation for our clients and the broader media industry in South Africa.’
PAMS/CPS Fusion was officially launched on 26 September in Johannesburg and 28 September in Cape Town. Nielsen’s global Data Science Lead for Watch, Jonathan Wells presented at these events. Wells has years of experience in the media space, with a specific expertise in media fusion and will therefore give a global view on the significance of this type of development, as well as broader trends from his select vantage point.