This
year’s ARF Measurement conference, a top research-oriented conference, focused two
of its 2 ½ days on the challenges in cross platform measurement. Cross platform
continues to be a major initiative of an industry that has historically focused
predominantly on television. But the days of linear TV dominating the
discussion and the historical buying and selling of spots and dots is just
about over.
Manish
Bhatia, CRO of comScore summed it up by saying "video has escaped
television." Once consuming "more of a household’s time than a
workday", according to Bhatia, the recent declines in overall linear
television consumption can be a bit disconcerting … that is until you realize
that television viewing is as robust as ever. “We are not losing viewers”,
explains Joan Fitzgerald, (Senior Vice President, Television and Cross Media
Service, comScore), “They are consuming on different platforms. In fact, multiplatform
consumers spend more time with the content on television.”
My
take is that while linear TV usage is declining, television usage as a whole –
with all of the on demand and OTT options available - will be as important as ever.
But we will miss opportunities to fully monetize its importance if we cannot
agree on a standard cross platform measurement. The ARF Measurement Mandate
conference presented many different and sometimes overlapping solutions in
cross platform measurement. Each touts its own secret sauce data sets and
algorithms. The result is a confusing noise of competing sales positions that
can, unless we can find ways of merging them, potentially impede a standardize-able
cross platform measurement solution. The stakes are high. According to Gayle
Fuguitt, CEO of the ARF, “$100 billion will be poured into analytics measurement
in next year.”
Here
are some highlights:
The Importance
of Disconnecting
In
a time of increasing connection across a range of devices, keynote speaker,
Ariana Huffington, gave a thought provoking talk about the need to disconnect
from these devices. "We take better care of our devices than we do of
ourselves," she explained. "Burnout is the disease of civilization.
While we venerate technology we become hyper connected to our devices and
become less connected to ourselves. Being tired has become a new normal. We
need to be able to disrupt ourselves before we are disrupted." In her new
book, Thrive, Huffington encourages us to move from being
necessary to becoming indispensable. And the way we facilitate that is with a
scheduled time each night to disconnect and take a predictable time off.
"No one can be 24/7 individually. We are not machines," she says. Huffington
is one of several CEOs who believe that by purposefully disconnecting we can
refresh and become much more insightful and creative.
But While We Disconnect,
Data Never Sleeps
Ariana
Huffington’s keynote provided context for a conference attuned to the frenetic
collection of data that comes from more and more sources. The collection of
data occurs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Where do you start? According to
Jeff Chaban, Global SVP, Business Integration and Analytics, Starcom MediaVest
Group, it is by "following the consumer based on viewing habits ... and it
will differ by target audience. (We need to) migrate away from a world where we
look at consumers as demos and think about the data mix as well as media mix.”
Mike
Clarke, Team Lead, Brand Insights and Measurement at Google, is not restricted
to the current TV currency. He spoke of Google’s new Brand Lift platform which
uses traditional survey techniques with YouTube. Carlos Jose Fonseca, VP of
Knowledge and Insights for Coke suggested that we “optimize for business
results and not proxy measurement like clicks.”
Measuring Mobile
is Vital... But Measured By Whom?
As
video content is consumed on different platforms, our need to agree on
accredited measurement standards has never been more important. Currently there
is no company that has accredited mobile view-ability data, according to Serge
Matta CEO of comScore. He explained, "We all know the problem with view-ability.
There is a lot at stake. We want to make view-ability the footer not the
headline. It is hard to do because digital is so complicated." His
solution is to "set upfront expectations, set standards and use quality
measurement."
How Do We Get to
One Cross Platform Metric?
Ask
a number of media executives what is the one platform-connecting metric to use
and you will receive a range of answers. For Joan Fitzgerald, comScore is “working
to get one metric across platforms.” The challenges though are formidable. “We
use a six minute qualifier for television but not for the Internet,” she
explains, “Cross media must provide a single metric, unified demography, holistic
accounting of all video viewing behavior, scalable measurement of platform and
audience and a metric that is reliable to fit the future of advertising.” Leslie
Wood, CRO Nielsen Catalina Solutions, believes that “buyer targets will never
be as valuable as demos. Demos are predictable. You know what age you will be
next year but will you know if you will
be drinking orange soda? We won't negotiate on buyer targets but we will plan
on them.” Artie Bulgrin, SVP Global Research and Analytics, ESPN, explained
that, “the component of time is so essential to this measurement and it is hard
to do. Differences in editing rules come up with different results. This is
important because time creates impressions.”
It
is my hope that at the 2016 Measurement Mandate, the issues of cross platform
measurement will largely be solved, but I am not holding my breath in
anticipation. Some are more optimistic. Andrea Zapata, VP Global Research and
Analytics, Vevo said, “Five years ago we were only counting two things - TV and
the computer. We are now stitching together metrics. If we can agree on better
instead of perfect we will get better.” Fuguitt hopes for “coopertition,” which
is a blend of competition and cooperation. I leave it to the ARF to get us
there.
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