Ads Are Getting Better … Sort Of… According to Recent Kantar Media Research Study

Is advertising getting better for consumers? Are consumers’ receptivity to advertising improving as ads become more addressable? Kantar Media’s recent global DIMENSION study has revealed that while consumers say that the advertising environment has improved, there are still some challenges, particularly with online. The survey included responses from more than 5,000 “connected” adult consumers. 

Manish Bhatia, North America CEO, Kantar Media shared his views about the survey in this exclusive interview.

Charlene Weisler: What for you was the biggest takeaway from the Dimension survey?

Manish Bhatia: One of the biggest takeaways we found is that data is changing everything and not always for the better. While data helps advertising become more effective and efficient than ever, marketers who rely on the wrong data or use the right data in the wrong way risk turning consumers off and damaging perception of their brands.  

Charlene:  Your results indicate that 47% of those using ad blockers say they have issues with aspects of online advertising as opposed to ads themselves. What type of issues?

Manish: We believe excessive retargeting is contributing to these concerns: 71% of those we surveyed agree that they see the same ads over and over again and we saw many complaints about being bombarded by advertising. Respondents expressed annoyance at being shown ads for items that had recently been purchased. The industry leaders we interviewed also agreed that saturation has become a significant concern. 

Charlene: At what point does addressable advertising tip into invasion of privacy?

Manish: We found it’s really a balancing act for both advertisers and consumers. When targeted ads are relatively benign and beneficial to consumers they often don’t mind the fact that their data was shared – for example, if they are offered a coupon for a product they often buy. But ads can also start to seem too intrusive.

Charlene: Does it vary by platform?

Manish: Mobile definitely can raise greater concerns about privacy because those devices are so personal. Some consumers may also be concerned about geo-targeting ads that leverage their physical location. 

Charlene: How can feelings of invasions of privacy be avoided?

Manish: Paying attention to frequency and context can help. Seeing ads too often and seeing ads at inconvenient times or linked with the wrong kind of content can definitely be viewed as intrusive. 

Charlene:  When you talk about matching creative with context, can you give some good examples of what works and what might not work?

Manish: Don’t just match ads to content, but rather to consumer mindset and behavior. Someone who is reading a serious article about food safety is in a different place from someone who’s looking at recipes. And someone who’s browsing for quick info from a phone may be too busy to take in an ad, or might even view it as an annoyance.  

Charlene: How can this best be implemented?

Manish: You need a full understanding of all the media consumers are using – often, in this hybrid world, all at the same time. True cross-media measurement is key, otherwise you risk becoming siloed and serving too many of the same ads through different channels. 

Charlene: What are some of the lessons that programmers can take from your study?

Manish: Invest in quality data and tools that will give you a complete picture of the media landscape – and then make sure you use them wisely. Make sure to provide consumers with a compelling experience - you’ll find that they reward you for it. 

 Charlene: Is this a trend study -- do you have year to year comparisons?

Manish: DIMENSION will be a trend study but this is our first year. Check back with us next year and we’ll be happy to update you. We’re going to be tracking perceptions of advertising on an ongoing basis via our Ad Positive score so we’ll have a better answer for you next year. But overall, targeted advertising can be effective – if it’s done well. 64% of consumers we surveyed said they prefer to see advertising that is relevant to their interests.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
 

ARF Rocking the Research World With Measurement Mandate

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.

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com

Advancements in Cross Platform Measurement

CIMM, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement recently held its annual Cross-Platform Media Measurement and Data Summit. This year’s conference focused almost exclusively on cross platform which is the hot issue among both media buyers and sellers.

CEO and Managing Director, Jane Clarke, announced CIMM’s 7 criteria for cross platform measurement at the conference. She explained, "CIMM developed our 7 Criteria for measuring cross platform exposure of both content and ads in order to let research vendors know the solutions that the end users are seeking for measuring unduplicated reach."

During this time of media transformation, these seven criteria help to form a foundational consensus for the industry. 

CIMM’s Seven Criteria For Cross Platform Measurement

      1.       We need to go beyond panels. Panels alone are too small to be the only measurement solution for the cross platform world. Panels are also unable to account for out of home viewing - an issue for some networks, notably CNBC. Linda Yaccarino, Chairman, Advertising Sales & Client Partnership is addressing this issue, as she explained, “CNBC Daytime is no longer relying on Nielsen for C3 ratings.”

      2.       We need passive measurement and solutions. The least amount of intrusion is optimal as a myriad of devices vie for viewers’ attention. Manish Bhatia, comScore’s Chief Revenue Officer, noted, “No matter what the media is, passive electronic measurement has been viewed by the industry as the most accurate approach to capturing and reporting media behavior accurately. That is what comScore is doing.”

      3.       Census data are needed across all platforms. As with the importance of going beyond panels, CIMM acknowledges that census level data is needed for all platforms. Clarke explained, "It's important that we point out the need for hybrid combinations of panel data with census-like data across all platforms, including TV Return Path Data." “The data is there to count every consumer“, noted Time Warner Cab le EVP & COO, Media Services, Joan Gillman, “We are only starting to scratch the surface.”

      4.       Measuring individuals is optimal but measuring households is also useful. Targeting households and their behavioral dynamics can also provide actionable insights for marketers. According to Eric Schmitt, EVP Communications and Media at Allant, “Standard household-level segments and ad impression counts across inventory pools, platforms and MVPDs are essential to keeping national TV advertising competitive with the scale and efficiency of online alternatives."

      5.       Measure ads and programming separately. The sooner we move to separate measurements of ads and programs, the better according to Jed Meyer, Global Research Director at Annalect who said, “We are moving from a world of content-based buying to audience-based buying and future measurement systems need to reflect this shift.” The reason, according to Schmitt is that, "Measuring ad audiences is different than programming measurement.  Advertisers have specific segments they want to reach, while programmers are usually looking for as many eyeballs as possible.

      6.       We need common units of analytics and metrics for reporting.  Tom Xenos, MediaVest’s Vice President, Audience & Measurement Solutions believes that, “If we’re ever to make sense of the new cross-media world, we need to adopt a common set of metrics for measuring and evaluating audiences.  Otherwise, we’ll just continue to have a media tower of Babel.” But the quest for common metrics is challenging. When asked which metrics are most important, there was a range of responses. Fernando Arriola, VP and Media Integration, ConAgra Foods, said, “Brand health and sales, how many unduplicated people see the message”, Yaccarino said, “Total audience delivery,’ and Erin Matts, Chief Marketing Officer, Annalect, averred, “The best proxy for sales varies by client. The more metrics are better. The access to a variety of metrics allows us to customize and makes our job easier.”

      7.       Implement an asset identification open standard. CIMM is in the process of crafting an open standard for media asset identification using EIDR and AD-ID, utilizing consultant Chris Lennon, President and CEO, MediAnswers, to help in SMPTE standardization. He explains, “We sent out an RFP and are now gathering test content and refining our test plan to best assess respondent technologies. (We are) also developing a SMPTE Recommended Practice that we will publish along with the eventual Standards document(s) that come out of this effort.”

With these criteria in place, the pace of cross platform measurement solutions should accelerate. An industry-based solution could be close at hand. Let’s hope soon.

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com

CIMM Presents Cross Platform Measurement Solutions

There has never been a better time to explore solutions for cross platform measurement. New technological advancements have been embraced by content consumers and now in 2014, we mark the first year that we have cross platform unduplicated reach and frequency measurement solutions currently being tested. We are not at the currency stage yet but we are certainly taking the first steps.

Credit for these advancements includes measurement companies such as comScore and Nielsen, efforts from networks like ESPN, NBCU and Turner and the industry-wide effort of The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) which has focused on this issue since its inception in 2009.

CIMM’s Managing Director Jane Clarke noted, “The progress towards an open standard of cross-platform measurement made in 2014 is truly encouraging. It’s wonderful to see the industry testing, enhancing and ultimately embracing these initiatives and that CIMM’s mandate of cultivating projects that advance the discussion around these technologies has been fruitful thus far.  I expect the progress to continue and am eager to see a viable cross-platform measurement solution in the near future.” 

I moderated a panel at the recent CIMM Cross-Platform Media Measurement Summit that explored four differentiated cross platform measurement solutions:

Ø  CIMM and ESPN’s work with comScore’s Project Blueprint which brings five separate data sources together to measure simultaneous usage and de-duped reach for video, audio and text. Phase 1 was pioneered by partner ESPN and phase 2 in partnership with CIMM.  The next step is to expand Blueprint from custom study to a standard practice.

Ø  NBCU’s single source approach for measuring the recent Olympics at Sochi with a Day in the Life for three target segmentations – Millennials, Women and Alphaboomers.

Ø  CNN’s All Screen study uses custom data integration linking Nielsen cross platform data and internal digital data.

Ø  Nielsen’s roadmap for cross platform ratings that addresses the what, why, and how of extending their Ratings service to measure across platforms. 

These four solutions all approach cross platform measurement from different angles using different methodologies and data sources. And yet each approach offers a unique and illuminating way to combine data across platforms. A chart which compares all these solutions can be found on the CIMM website.

Some are poised for a fuller industry roll-out such as Project Blueprint. Blueprint sponsor Artie Bulgrin of ESPN says “We have a working measurement system that now needs to be vetted and tested by the industry, first by CIMM members as part of the phase two test.  Blueprint will evolve further and ultimately the MRC will review. Right now the first priority is establishing industry consensus.”

ComScore’s Manish Bhatia adds, “Blueprint’s cross-platform media consumption view combines single source, passive, persons' level measurement system with census level.  We are pleased with the support and guidance from the industry and look to provide fast, relevant insights on an ongoing, syndicated basis.” 

Other solutions like NBCU’s Day In the Life approach may not be easily scalable but it offers an ethnographic look at viewer behavior. Others, using Nielsen’s ratings, can help companies track back to industry standard metrics. Such is CNN All Screen where Turner’s Howard Shimmel anticipates that “Nielsen offers a syndicated service that combines TV in home and out of home data, so the data gets absorbed in agency buying and planning tools.” Nielsen has its own set of priorities according to Kelly Abcarian. "Right now our key areas of focus are on supporting all the clients implementing the Nielsen SDK with their video players to enable cross platform GRPs, and engaging the MRC on key accreditation efforts for these important expansions of our already accredited solutions."

What are the next steps that need to be taken for cross platform measurement, taking into account ingrained industry challenges? “My dream would be for all relevant parties to meet with CIMM to identify the best solution for the industry. No one provider can solve what the market needs, and it will only be through cooperation of various providers, “says Shimmel who adds, “The biggest challenge is companies who believe they can provide an integrated solution themselves.”

What the CIMM initiative proves is that when the industry shares knowledge and works collaboratively, it is possible to find several excellent solutions to challenging problems.