Is There a Future for Media Measurement Currency? The Industry Weighs In.

The issue of cross media measurement currency (and by currency I mean a standard metric that can be used as a comparison point between companies and platforms) has been a hotly debated discussion for a while. Now, with the ever expanding access of various data points and the de-accreditation of Nielsen’s local and national TV measurement services, the pressure to come to terms with the state of measurement has never been more pronounced.

In surveying the industry, there are many differing opinions on the future of measurement currency and what it should be. Many agree that some generally accepted metrics and methodology is table stakes. Yet, even beyond that general opinion, there are many divergent views.

When I posed this issue to Research Wonks, a forum for people who work in media and advertising research, analytics and data science, the response was immediate, well considered and over whelming.

Media Currency Agreement - Optimists versus Pessimists

“Currency removes friction in the market … until it’s at odds with what the market needs to function smoothly,” explained Stephen DeMarco, Head of Business Development at Tubular Labs. “Adults 35 and younger spend more time watching social video content than they do linear TV.”

For Aaron Fetters, Head of Client Development at Truthset, the ability to craft a currency in the current media ecosystem is close to impossible. “There is no solution for true cross-platform measurement,” he admitted. “Fifty years ago, the idea that it makes more sense for one independent, neutral party to count and define audiences was understandable. There was one dominant form of media at the time, television. It was not so difficult to apply a single methodology and process to the collection and interpretation of data across all major media owners.”  Now, with media fragmentation across platforms and devices, “the effort to produce numbers which somewhat realistically report the total unique reach (and frequency of exposure) of either an ad campaign or a piece of content and they all come up short for a variety of reasons, largely out of the control of the measurement providers,” he noted.

Arguably the most pessimistic is Chris Squire, SVP Head of Data, Samba. “The outdated, legacy currency measurement barely scratches the surface of advertiser needs via proxy metrics that fall short of measuring the business outcomes that are instrumental to campaign ROI. As the industry approaches a critical inflection point to rethink how advertisers transact with each other, we are excited at the prospect of multiple currencies based on these business outcomes for true ROI insight.”

Media Currency Solutions – Considerations

The ever increasing opportunities to push content across platforms can lead to new and highly creative measurement adaptations while at the same time, pose further challenges.

 “There's a massive move from counting delivery in the form of GRPs to measuring outcomes, whether that's advertising's ability to grow brands, drive engagement or sales,” explained Anne Hunter, VP, Product Marketing, DISQO, because of fragmentation, speed of consumer change and direct to consumer as well as one-to-one marketing efforts.

For Senior Insights Consultant, Laura Chaibi, the ability to form closed loop selling can make the discussion of a currency irrelevant. “In other parts of the world, it is almost problematic when the publisher is also the bank in places like China. They see how much money you have, how you spend it and what you can afford. This is the ultimate closed loops selling – do you need a currency in this market?” she posited and added, “Amazon seem closer to full end to end closed loop selling more than any other platform / publisher (if you can call them that) in the USA that is selling media.”

Setting priorities in measurement solution is the view of Daniel Slotwiner, VP, Measurement, Insights and PMM, Gopuff. He would like to, “See more of a discussion about explicitly measuring ads versus content. I think both need to be measured, for sure, but for trading purposes I think it's time we leave content aside and focus on measuring ads (with some meta data about the context in which/on which they are viewed).”  

Conclusion

In my opinion, some form of standard, generally accepted baseline metric is important for comparison purposes across properties, but just like any wildly divergent industry of competing self -interests, to get all interested parties in agreement is probably a pipe dream. Should we keep the traditional status quo of Nielsen, despite its limitations? Do we migrate to a Comscore with its own set of limitations? Or do we venture into new parameters with another company, TBD? Perhaps a consortium of industry organizations can form a special committee to address measurement standards to either strengthen the current or form a new standard protocol.

For Jane Clarke, Managing Director, CIMM, “There doesn’t have to be one solution for a new currency, because different marketers have different needs and will use different datasets.  We just need common standards to verify ad exposures across media.  Those who provide ad exposure data need to be willing to have that data audited and accredited.” 

As a closing but important added consideration, Ben Tatta, President of Standard Media Index concluded, “It wasn't long ago when there was no debate regarding the currency or any viable alternative for measuring TV.  I suggest that we bifurcate, "measurement" from "currency."   Even if it takes time to transition to a more unified impressions-based currency that doesn't mean we can't change the basis by which we measure performance and outcomes.”        

Let the conversation continue….

This article first appeared in the Hocus Focus Newletter.

 

 

Welcome the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The TV of Tomorrow Offers an Exciting and Dystopian Future.

Where is TV headed? What is the TV of tomorrow? That was the question on my mind while attending the TV of Tomorrow conference held in NYC last week.

Many issues are hitting the industry now. “People are trying to aggregate data in order to organize the KPIs and monetize them while understanding all of the barriers involved how to bring all that data together,’” noted, Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief of ITVT and Founder of the TVOT Conference. In the realm of social media, many companies are grappling with “YouTube and their changing algorithms, libraries that are being de-monetized and the creation of greener pastures,” she added. 

One thing is clear; the TV ecosystem of today will definitely not be the TV ecosystem of tomorrow. Millennials are cord-nevers who didn’t grow up in a world of TV networks. Don’t expect them to change their habits as they age. And they don’t see the media landscape the way older viewers do. As Helen Katz, SVP/Global Director of Media and Insights, Publicis Media, explained when she asked her daughter what her favorite TV channels were, replied, “What is a TV channel?” 

For those of use with years invested in the industry, the changes discussed at the TVOT are at once exciting and dystopian. Here are my takeaways:

Increasing Technological Dominance

This drumbeat of technological change is leading to what Stein Erik Sorhaug, VP Product Strategy, Vimond, terms the Fourth Industrial Revolution where, through artificial intelligence (AI), we will drive human behavior and human thought. AI, as applied through Machine Learning, has the future capability to craft the most engaging content, map the most effective media plan and measure everything everywhere through the consumer journey. Ideally there will be room for both AI and human input where computers "create an inference layer" according to Mika Rautiainen, CEO/CTO, Valossa Labs, followed by "human curators editorially creating playlists and new channels," Sorhaug added.

Skill sets need to keep pace

Certain jobs could disappear in this new media ecosystem or will require different skill sets. "No question that people in yesterday's supply chain will be wiped out," stated Dave Morgan, CEO, Simulmedia, "marketing managers today don't have hard science background and will lose jobs to those who do." Swedlow suggested future media mavens, “create their own channel with their own ideas for original content. There will always be an opportunity for great content with real personalities and people who have a compelling story to tell.” 

Measurement Still a Challenge

“The lines between linear and digital are blurring,” explained Jenny Burke, SVP Sales Strategy, NBCU, “so we are concentrating on content; distributing it to whatever platform the consumer prefers.” How can this consumer journey be best measured? Aaron Fetters, SVP National Agencies and CPG Business, comScore, noted that, “times are changing and measurement must change with it. We need to future proof measurement with the growth in IoT, OTT and wearables.” But how can we accomplish this when there are walled gardens and silos of data and no industry standard content identification system in place? Until we can agree on the best way to track content, through content identification and ACR, full cross-platform measurement will continue to be a challenge and will become more complex.

OTT is Growing and Cuts Out the Advertiser

Ignore the influence of OTT at your peril. “Four major OTT services account for 80% of viewing time in OTT households with Netflix at 39%,” stated Katz. And it is growing. Since much of OTT is subscription based, this can shut out advertising. Fetters added, “We see that viewers are spending 25 hours per month with Netflix on their TV screen and that is 25 hours per month that is not available to advertising. We need to find ways of adjusting the advertising plan to reach those households.”

ATSC 3.0 Brings TV into the New Age

Although still in the arena of the engineering wonks, the advent of ATSC 3.0 will prove to be a game changer for local TV. This new protocol will, as Swedlow explained, “enable regular digital television over the air – local television and every other broadcaster - to be able to explore the relationship between linear over-the-air and interactivity on-demand.” How fast and how profound ATSC 3.0 will be depends on timing – when will all of the new chips be installed? It will take a while, she explained, because there is no deadline by the government, “but I think it will pick up steam,” she concluded.

We have to be “savvy enough to take advantage of all of these new technologies because everything will be interactive. There will be shows that will be voice activated and there will be shows that will require you to interact with another person or deal with blockchain to monetize your content,” explained Swedlow. The best advice I can give is to embrace change and be nimble. The future of television will demand more of us but it will be an exciting journey.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

Measuring the Unmeasured at the ARF

The ARF always offers events that are a must attend for researchers. This year’s audience measurement conference was no exception. Just like with everything else in the media landscape today, research is undergoing challenges that require it to transform the way it does business.

There is now more to measure ... and more that is unmeasured. There are more platforms, more content options, many more large and small competitors for consumer attention and affection and more data to mine for insights. Researchers now wear many more hats- storytellers, neuroscience aware, big data mavens, thought leaders and analytics experts. We now need a working knowledge of ACR, STB data, cross platform relationships, addressable opportunities and privacy pitfalls. The list sometimes appears endless. But it also makes our jobs very relevant and pivotal to the well-being of a company.

The future is screens, according to Laura Desmond CEO, Starcom MV. “Screens will dominate our environment. There are screens at airports, hotel lobbies, on refrigerators and washing machines. There are touch screens and screens that don't move.” She expects that consumer behaviors will changes with the proliferation of all these screens and cited that 50% of Twitter users read tweets as they watch TV. But the way we measure all those screens is still evolving.

Measurement Solutions

ESPNs Artie Bulgrin offered insights into a Multi Platform measurement solution with an update on Project Blueprint. Project Blueprint is a cross platform solution that uses both single-source and data integration in a hybrid methodology. It combines Arbitron TV and radio data with comScore TV STB, PC and mobile data, along with a “Calibration Panel” recruited from the Arbitron PPM panel.  These are integrated in a “duplication engine” that estimates combinations of usage across five platforms. Partner on the project, comScore CEO Gian Fulgoni called it the "best of panels combined with the availability of big data into elegantly integrated system….that can operate at scale."

Mark Loughney of ABC gives an overview of all three of the ABC research panels at the ARF in this video including DVR playback viewing beyond 7 days and the results of two cross platform studies.

Advancements, Opportunities, Pitfalls and Privacy

Dave Morgan, CEO Simulmedia hosted a panel on how big data can move research forward. It is almost a moving target since there are "more big data sources from new devices everyday" according to Millward Brown’s Bill Pink. And there is a talent gap in how to apply insights to data. Researchers need to be discerning in what the data actually says compared to what the data appears to say. Once regarded as a panacea to all research efforts, it seems that Big Data actually spurs the need for more small data initiatives. "We are doing more custom research than ever before. Big data escalates new questions" says Pink.  Explaining the value of Big Data to the C-level is sometimes difficult but Kellogg’s Aaron Fetters has a solution: He finds that using “The Moneyball example” is an effective way to introduce the value of Big Data to the CEO.

Turner’s Jon Marks says that it is a Big Data world where these datasets have a huge role to play when used properly. He talks about Turner’s Athena Project which defines audience target segments by the programs they watch and Turner’s partnerships in cross platform in this video:


   

He also believes that we are in the golden age of market research where the opportunities for the next generation are almost limitless because the questions keep coming and solutions keep changing. There is a need for great analytical minds to help companies navigate the new media frontier.

But there are pitfalls, especially when we don’t look at the full ecosystem when analyzing data. Christian Kugel of AOL advised that we more fully understand consumer behavior to get the best insights from the data. "What does mobile mean? 60% of mobile moment usage is at home. We need to reframe each strategic opportunity based on what we see the usage is via the data." Mary Ellen Gorden from Flurry talked about how the changing technology can impact behavioral results from the data. "There are lots of apps where cookies don't apply. " So culling data based on cookies may skew your results.

And what about privacy? Aside from the usual response that privacy is important, there are some who are taking a more pragmatic view. Some say that it is possible to give consumers choice where they willingly agree to give up some personal information voluntarily so they receive more targeted and therefore relevant ads.

Conclusion

After two intensive days of research panels, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the range of measurement solutions that are possible using Big Data in combination with custom research. Will there be one major solution that advances into a cross platform and / or addressable currency? These senior executives weigh in on solutions in this video:

I say, stay tuned - this is only the beginning.