NBCUniversal Reveals Unified Measurement Currency Results with iSpot

If anyone knows media measurement, it is Kelly Abcarian, previously with Nielsen and now Executive Vice President, Measurement & Impact, Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal. Along with NBCU’s Laura Molen, President, Ad Sales & Partnerships and Sean Muller, CEO iSpot, Abcarian presented the results of a pilot study that demonstrates how iSpot data can be accurately used as currency for OTT.

This year-long study is, “a major milestone to transform media measurement to reach consumers where they are,” according to Molen that helps to address the demand of advertisers for the ultimate cross platform measurement standard. Partnering with iSpot has enabled NBCU to contribute a new solution to the multi-currency future of the media ecosystem. “Some are stuck on legacy. Some are grading their own homework or measuring themselves,” noted Molen. But others are adopting new measurement currencies as evidenced by the large percentage of business that is now conducted on alternative measurements. “Already 40% of our upfront deals have been outside the traditional age and gender guarantees,” using a range of other data suppliers such as Adsmart, iSpot and OpenAP.

But the industry need at this point is to unify and codify a new currency using these alternative services and that is where the partnership with iSpot is pivotal to NBCU’s measurement goals. “They are our first certified partner and a trusted partner of the industry for over a decade,” she stated who has also received the seal of approval from many of NBCU’s advertisers. In fact, over 30% of the advertisers showcased in NBCU’s pilot study were already iSpot customers.

The ability to, as Molen said, “bridge the gaps between platforms and even across the buy and sell side,” to combine all of NBCU’s platforms with one unified method that delivers daily impressions within 48 hours is a major step in media measurement.

For Abcarian, this effort is all part of the bigger plan to, “move our industry forward with better measurement solutions and trying to keep up with the changing, ever growing consumer behaviors.” NBCU’s nine month journey to find the right measurement partner started with an RFP that attracted over 120 measurement providers across six measurement categories. This was followed by a test of 16 advertisers over the Summer Olympics across six cross platform currency partners. This was followed by a range of industry initiatives and announcements, the certification of nine NBCU partners further studies using the Winter Olympics and SuperBowl and finally, a 67 advertiser pilot test examining 158 brands.

“The key takeaway from our last nine months is that cross platform currency is here and it is ready to act and transact,” Abcarian concluded. A notable advancement was the mitigation of friction by using, “Direct server to server integration with iSpot so brands could measure all ads across all platforms and all ads fast.” After hours of training 800 users and testing across a three month period for the 12 brands, NBCU saw an average 546 million impressions per brand, an average mix of 9% on OTT and 91% on linear.

Advertisers were categorized by their mix of linear and OTT and fell into the following categories: Beginners with 10% OTT in their media mix, Experimenters at 10-20% OTT, Adventurers at 20-30% and Pioneers at 30%+. The results of the test were that brands with a rich mix of OTT did better with overall greater reach and acceptable levels of frequency.

NBCU’s goal of true scale integration cross platform measurement for brands’ unique campaigns was demonstrated by Muller who revealed the results of the pilot study which looked at a large retail brand. “Probably the overarching learning here is that linear and streaming can no longer be planned, measured and transacted in silos,” he explained. The retail brand began its campaign with a very low mix of OTT and over the span of the campaign, increased its OTT weight. The result was a significant increase in reach using more OTT, “as linear was saturated and more frequency was building up. And as they layered in streaming, there was pure incremental reach,” he revealed.

What did NBCU learn? All brands are underleveraged on NBCU OTT in driving reach. The pilot study proved that a careful mixture of OTT and linear, depending on the target consumer goal, can result in optimizing reach and frequency that can be smoothed out by moving media weight from linear to OTT.  “The power of premium (content) is both critically important across our linear and OTT platforms to drive reach and results for our advertisers. The ability to measure all viewing in a unified way,” enables advertisers to value and optimize all of their inventory across all platforms with an optimal mix in a frictionless and seamless way with de-duped reach and frequency, Abcarian concluded.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Artwork by Charlene Weisler

 

 

 

This Time, the TV of Tomorrow Conference Focused on Time Itself

Every year, the TV of Tomorrow conference in New York City takes on a topic of importance for the industry. In the past, the event has concentrated on TV Everywhere, data, virtual reality and apps. But as the media ecosystem continues to transform and fragment, this year TVOT focused on time, which is emerging as a valuable commodity regarding the optimal length of an ad, the form of content by platform or how we manage, analyze and gain insights from the firehose of data, among other concerns. 

The TV of tomorrow, said Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief, itvt, speaking exclusively to Media Village, “is not just about creating the content. It’s also having the intelligence to know how to use the network to your advantage.

“That’s the hard part, like creating interactivity,” she continued. “The TV viewers of tomorrow want engagement. So it’s coming up with those ideas, quickly. It’s figuring out how to engage them in a variety of new ways around the content and its speed-to-market.”

Keynote speaker Laura Molen, Executive Vice President of Lifestyle and Hispanic Advertising Sales at NBCU, spoke on the future of TV advertising. Content has changed, she said, because “consumers are engaging on many different platforms. We have the opportunity to expand our content across all different platforms and use data and technology to measure consumers.”

And yet, with all of these platforms, “thirty second spots are still key,” she confirmed.

The expansion of platforms necessitates flexibility in content forms. Molen explained that her role was to “build advertiser relationships and native content in television.” Branded content offers a “win, win, win,” she declared. “It has to speak to the network or site that it is on while also getting across advertisers’ messages and bringing their brand to life in the show.”

Sarah Malkin, Vice President Programming, New Form Digital, speaking on a panel titled Programming in the Era of Social Media and OTT, said, “We think of all of our content as new formats, because they are all consumed on new platforms. Our model of content development is working with incoming ideas from creators and marrying creators who have a loyal fan base with someone with a storytelling background.”

We can become consumed in a vortex of data, but Jonathan Steuer, CRO, Omnicom Media Group, speaking on the panel titled #futureofbroadcasting, explained that it is all about “art plus science," adding that "data informs, but you won't create content simply because the data says that it’s a great story.”

Data freshness and predictability is also an issue. “A lot of the data is old," asserted Michael Gaston, CEO, Cut.com, speaking on the Programming panel. "Data can tell us what went viral but not what will go viral.”
Swedlow, moderating the panel on Programming, summed up the state of TV of tomorrow by saying,” It is speed-to-market, sticking to your guns, focusing on long term investment and hoping that your investors stick with you. “Try new things,” she recommended, “and remember that ideas can come from anywhere.”

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com