An Eye Towards the Future of Multi-Measurement. The NBCOne Developer Conference

While some in the press called the recent NBCOne Developer Conference “nerdy” it was, in fact, fascinating. The purpose of this 2^nd annual meeting was twofold.  First was to announce the many new innovations that NBC has added to their One-Platform. Second was a call to action on the part of the industry to foster more collaboration between vendors, programmers, marketers and overall competitors to accelerate the advancement of measurement and implement and adopt alternative currencies. 

One panel which highlighted the recent announcement of a long awaited JIC (Joint Industry Committee), summed up the importance of working together as an industry, crossing self-interested lines for the greater good. The goal is to establish a mutually acceptable audience measurement for both the buy and sell side of the industry.

Also presented at the conference were panelists who spoke about the value and efficacy of NBCU’s One Platform, how is it best used across departments and disciplines. NBCU’s Linda Yaccarino, Chairman Global Advertising and Partnerships, noted that when it comes to Big Media and Big Tech, it is important to have both because of the need for data unification and content in one platform. Therefore a JIC is vital to facilitate the breakdown of data silos for a mutually acceptable range of measurements to that position companies to maximize their value.  This requires us to move away from single solutions, move away from simply counting impressions and a move to a multi-currency future (which, incidentally, is available now).

Other highlights included an interview with Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak by CNBC’s journalist, Carl Quintanilla, on the future of AI where, according to Wozniak, computers are not meant to replace humans but to help them and that the path to success will be filled with errors and missteps.

According to Ryan McConville, EVP Advertising Platforms & Operations, NBCU, new and improved features of One Platform include the ability to activate on multi-currencies through iSpot and VideoAmp that optimize within the life of a campaign.  He also announced a partnership with Mediaocean that enables end-to-end capabilities for transactions which facilitates scaling.

John Lee, NBCU’s Chief Data officer announced that NBC Unified is now ready for targeting and measuring.  Notably, the use of data from trusted first party sources (their advertisers) can now be matched with NBC IDs that include data from content, their fans passions and even theme parks. There are new advertiser segments for measurement that match to real outcomes.

Deborah Wahl CMO GM presented a use case for NBC showcasing how the Platform was used to identify consumers for their electric cars last year and how it will be used this year for launching EVs in all classes from luxury (Cadillac) to mainstream (Chevy).   

Andy Cohen, Host and Executive Producer for Bravo, talked about the success of Fandom and used Bravo as an example with BravoCon while NBCU’s Global CMO, Josh Feldman spoke about eCommerce and Retail Media. Feldman announced the debut of One Platform Commerce partnerships with retail media Citris Ad and NBC Checkout which enables seamless purchase capabilities in partnership with Kerv Interactive. There is also Tech licensing for commerce technology which is a new business opportunity for NBCU.

NBCU’s EVP Measurement & Impact, Advertising & Partnerships, Kelly Abcarian, championed “let there be change” facilitated with iSpot and VideoAmp.  She also predicted that currencies in use today such as C3 and C7 will be out of date by 2024. Notably, NBCU has now “certified” 29 new partners and 5 different measurement categories. 

For those of us who have seen the advancement of technology and data with a sense of excitement, these developments and predictions and the expansion of systems such as NBCU’s One Platform, bode well for an industry that needs to keep up with change. As David Levy, Co-CEO and equity partner in Horizon Sports noted, maybe we are approaching a measurement renaissance.

 

 First published in www.MediaVillage.com Thought Leaders   

Artwork by Charlene Weisler

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Viewership and It’s Impact on the Business. An Interview with NBCU’s Mark Marshall

 

Perfecting cross platform measurement is not only a lofty goal for the industry but also a pivotal one. NBCU has been focused on it. “We started down this path in 2018 of looking at cross measurement in a different way in order to give marketers a single view of impressions whether that impression was running on digital or television,” noted Mark Marshall, NBCU’s President of Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships.

Cross Platform Consumption Report

His recently released Cross Platform Consumption Report, now in its second year, confirmed what he and his team have seen in viewing data. “Consumers are really their own programmers at this point,” he began. “You can look at the study and see that people are consuming at their own times, in their own manners, in the way that they want to consume.”

But the surprise for Marshall was, “as much as we talk about the disaggregation of how people are consuming content, the thing that brings them all together is typically the television set.”  He noted that, “Ninety-seven percent of consumption is on a television set. Even with the huge growth we had in streaming over the past few years, that streaming has driven people back to the set just like they were years and years ago.”  

Viewership Trends

The migration back to the set is an important takeaway. But we need to go deeper to really understand how this can impact networks and marketers. The report, he explained, “for the first time, broke out the programming on digital as well as linear and put it all together. It showed what was on that night, the consumption that happened that night on linear and what was the consumption that happened on digital.”

What it showed for a program like This Is Us, for example, is that it is a top show on the night it airs on linear as well as a top show across the entire week when all of the streaming is added. “The idea of looking at linear television as a point in time is something we want people to get away from,” he stated. Happily, “most marketers have evolved. But maybe not as quickly as the viewership has changed overall,” he averred.

What is notable is that this consumption pattern has changed the way programmers gauge success. “It’s funny,” Marshall said, “We used to sit and wait for the overnights and that was a determining factor if a show was a success from the night before.  Now we really start to evaluate shows after 35 days. That is really the full picture.” Of course the viewing pattern depends on the type of show. The Voice, as a contest, may have higher viewership within a few days of its original airing while This Is Us can be viewed over a longer timeline.

The Impact on Sales

All of this begs the question, if we are looking at a month of a combined linear and streaming to confirm viewership, how does that impact sales flights? Marshall explained that, when they brought CFlight, their one platform sales solution, to market, “We did two things. We wanted to unite and get a consistent vision of where impressions were running and start to flight their schedules differently.” Pricing, he stated, “is determined by the marketplace supply and demand,” but, “let’s stop looking at linear and digital as two distinct markets. Let’s look at it as one holistic market as one holistic supply and demand view of all of it in order to give marketers the most comprehensive package. And price that package to work for them instead of having two separate negotiations as was done in the past.”

The Impact on Scheduling

When the viewer is in charge and can essentially view on demand, scheduling strategy – time period, day of week, lead in and lead out – may no longer factor. But Marshall disagrees. “Scheduling does matter,” he noted, “What you see is appointment television at the front end of the week and as you get to the back half of the week people are catching up digitally. When we think of scheduling, we no longer think of scheduling as just a specific flow from show to show. We think about it from medium to medium.” The report notes that consumption has risen 23% in the last decade as we get towards the end of the week.

Is it possible that the pandemic has been accelerating these trends? “It’s possible, “he noted, “We saw growth in our co-viewing numbers, even in news. So the idea that people are home more and people are sitting down and watching television more often absolutely has shown changes in the viewer habits over this time.”

Metrics and Measurement

Metrics for Marshall is personal. “I just turned 50 this year. At 50 I no longer count in 18-49. I am in the market right now to buy a car. The idea that I no longer count to a car maker makes no sense. What an automaker really wants is reaching a consumer who is in market. Our metrics need to keep up with where we are at – a buying audience instead of a demographic audience – to drive sales,” he explained.

With metrics, “delivery is where it’s at now where impressions are the common measurement tool. But the long term goal is to get us to transact on different ways such as our recently announced total transaction impact. We can actually talk to the auto industry and show an auto manufacturer what percentage of sales NBCU was responsible for and start to build towards guaranteeing on actual sales as opposed to impressions,” he stated.

With full cross platform measurement, “This is an issue that we have to take on as an industry to get us to a common metric. Let’s stop treating impressions the same. Let’s start looking at what the real value and impact an impression is and not pretending that a two-seconds-with-the-sound-off impression is the same as a thirty second spot seen in its entirety. Those can’t be valued the same.”

The Future

Looking ahead, Marshall predicts the full confluence of consumption. “We will continue to see the evolution to digital but at some point you are not going to see the term ‘digital’ being used. It is going to be the video consumed and total consumption,” he explained. And for advertisers, “It is hard to evolve and make distinct change unless you take a risk and throw away some of the legacy. What is more aligned with the future consumer and viewing habits instead of the past trends, looking at things on a one platform basis, on an audience level and letting consumer habits determine where your ads are going to run,” he advised.

 

Surveying the Media Landscape. An Interview with Dan Berman

Dan Berman and I worked together at NBC many years ago when broadcast television was number one and cable was just developing. Since that time, Berman’s career path took him to leadership roles at both mature properties as well as start-up in both local and national marketplaces. 

He was most recently the Head of Ad Sales at i24 News which is Altice’s global news network, responsible for all efforts to generate ad revenue including direct linear, branded sponsorship, programmatic and advanced TV. 

Charlene Weisler: What "media life lessons" have you gleaned in your years of experience?

Dan Berman: Many ways to split up the “pie” – trusting and enduring relationships can often make the difference in writing business.  However, because more specifically defined ROI’s of properties / platforms are required than in the recent past due to informative data, the seller relationship with the buyer must be more consultative, analytically sound and solution-based; relationships that have that foundation will have the best outcomes.

Weisler: Tell me about i24 - its purpose, its audience base.

Berman: When I was working there, i24 was created to fill the void in the cable news arena by uniquely providing objective, non-state run nor ideologically-based news and current affairs from around the globe. The network, while it covers and reports on events throughout the globe, has a special focus on the Middle-East, arguably the most pivotal geo-political area of the world with far reaching impact throughout the world. The network is available nationally in Optimum, Comcast, Charter, Medicom, Suddenlink and Verizon homes in addition to various free and paid streaming properties.

Weisler: How has sales changed since you first started in the industry?

Berman: As alluded to before, back-of-the-envelope (trust me) deals have given way to analytic-based consultative sales in which those entities which can demonstrate the most analytically sound platforms and best argue the likely ROI’s will come out on top.  In the process, translating the complex into simpler truths and assumptions without sacrificing facts will continue to be essential for success.

Weisler: Where do you see the industry headed a year from today?

Berman: Increased dollars going to OTT/CTV with the commensurate requirement to measure more accurately and transact more easily. I also see a further enhancement of national linear addressable capabilities. Further progress to seamlessly connect multi-platform measurement

Weisler: What about three years from today?

Berman: More of the above as well as the dominance of programmatic/automated transactions in one form or another. I also see a significantly more consolidation of media properties. Several limited reach/niche networks cease to exist on pay subscription cable

Weisler: Has the pandemic caused any permanent changes in the industry and if so what and how

Berman: Yes. Remote capabilities have become essential for media personnel and systems/processes. Relationship building – must be even stronger and resilient with less direct interaction. Traditional linear will not survive on its own.  Strategic packaging and leverage of other digital points-of-access for video will be increasingly necessary to fill all the revenue buckets.

Weisler: What advice would you give to a college graduate today about a career in media?

Berman: Go where you think media is going to be not today but tomorrow – because today will change before you even start your 1st week. Don’t be afraid in your 1st job or 5th to speak up and offer potential solutions and better ways of operating/selling/marketing because the industry has more questions than answers and you may be able to provide one of the answers.

 

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

 

The Many Challenges for Media Technology Departments

With all of the change and transformation taking place in the media industry today, we may tend to forget that there is one area of expertise that is under great pressure to get it done, get it right and get it within the budget as quickly as possible. That would be corporate technology departments who must find efficient, successful methods to build the systems that will drive the business and that, oh by the way, will not become obsolete just as it is completed. It is quite a feat!

This week I attended an off-the-record roundtable on this subject that included representatives from such companies as AMC, Charter, Disney, Google, Legends, NBCU, Nielsen, NY Times, NPD Group, Ogilvy, Scholastic, Vice and WarnerMedia. This event, sponsored by Eliassen Group and hosted by WarnerMedia, shed light on the challenges that technology departments face in building and off-loading measurement and sales systems. With the ever expanding range of data sets (that sometimes have to be normalized and cleansed) to addressable and programmatic advertising sales components (that need to be built into current sales, inventory and traffic systems) to the promises of groundbreaking custom media systems (that cross siloed internal departments), there is a lot that can go wrong or miscalculated. And let’s not forget the need to comply with ever-evolving privacy legislation.

Organizing and Managing Project Teams

How does a CTO start to herd all the cats in a major technology project cross company? To some, this was less of a challenge in smaller companies than in larger ones. “A small company is federated,” noted one attendee. For those in larger corporations, “small agile teams,” might be the way to start but there needs to be some type of centralized body or council so the governance doesn’t slip and a set of corporate standards to set general parameters and deliverables.

Collaboration tools can be an unexpected challenge. According to another participant, tools can vary within a company. “Some use Slack,” he noted, but other departments use other systems. “Some don’t use Hangout.” Picking the right collaboration tools is pivotal, noted another attendee, so that the technical tools “get normalized.” There is great value in being proactive by immediately training in any collaboration tool when on-boarding a project. Sometimes rejection exists simply because the person doesn’t know how to use it. One executive suggested incentivizing employees and offered the following example: In moving from Office, her company offered Amazon gift cards to those employees who made the change.

Privacy

In the discussion of privacy, the thought was that, as CCPA goes into effect and with GDPR, advertisers would have to go back to contextual advertising from more personalized targeting.

For one participant, the irony is that as the TV side of the market becomes more addressable, it is possible that digital may become more contextualized.

Most agreed that it was a “hard regulatory environment,” where CCPA is the first salvo but not the last. One executive added that there were different criteria depending on the legislation – opting in for GDPR or opting out for CCPA. Anecdotally, she noted that, “with GDPR there is some blindness to opt-in. Consumers in 40% to 50% of cases ignore it” which is, “similar to ad blindness,” although there is no feedback as of yet on CCPA. And with legislation going out state by state it is really an, “evolving story.”

For another attendee, the concern is “reputational risk,” where we need to ascertain exactly what is going out to the consumer. “Where have you pulled the personal information and what are you doing with it? What are the exceptions?” It all must be within scope. His company demands privacy on enterprise level but individual nets may manage risk in different way and is “operated in a siloed manner” because of all of the different businesses they own. For another company that offers subscription streaming services, the consumer can delete their data but then they do, they are unsubscribed.

Privacy legislation could impact recommendation engines. Services like Chrome will be phasing out of cookies. Both of these situations present their own challenges in tracking consumers. As a result, some participants believe that this will result in more of a move to subscriptions.

Direct to Consumer Model

Being content with the status quo is not an option nowadays. For one executive, “We’ve had such a stable model for such a long time, you didn’t need to change anything. It just worked.” Now, faced with strict functional silos and the need to think differently, change management has been a challenging process and their current informal structure will be forced to evolve.

For some, the impact of mergers, purchases and consolidations creates a much larger company that needs to focus on assembling the organization within an aggressive time line. Content Rights is also undergoing a shift. It used to be more profitable to “split rights and sell them off to different parties. But now there is a scramble to re-aggregate these rights.”

In a world of cord-cutting, is there a future for cable television? For many, the answer is yes by upgrading the network to offer higher speed for gaming and more experiential content with aggregation being a solution for brands and distribution. “It’s a fun time to be in the distribution business. I don’t see the cable companies going away. Where would you go,” one participant stated.

As viewers increasingly watch individual programs and may not be aware of the network it is on, branding will be more and more pivotal going forward. “There is always a market for high end production,” concluded an attendee … as long as the consumer knows where it originates.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com