Getting Ready for the Upfronts with the PeopleFront

This year’s PeopleFront focused on three main pillars of the media marketplace – people, outcomes and ROI – and offered discussion viewpoints from “the street”, the research, the data and the buyers and sellers.

Dave Morgan, CEO and founder of Simulmedia and the host of the PeopleFront, presented the big picture when he said, “There is a consensus that the next year or two will bring significant change.  TV is continuing to make money and is expected to make money for some time. There are steps that TV companies can do to extend the duration and profitability.” 

Here are the different views on possible solutions:

View from the Street

Change, consumer behavior evolution and the limitations of the measurement in a world of ever increasing pools of data cause a confluence of challenges. “The nature of what is TV is fluid,” noted Brian Weiser, Senior Analyst, Pivotal, “Younger demos change behavior more rapidly. Some behavior is not currently measured that would make consumption data more healthy.” He explained that there was a recent CRE insights study that showed that TV is ambient in a world of multi-tasking. “There is still an important role for TV,” he assured, “but it is changing” depending on the degree of programming engagement.

On the ad side of the equation, Anthony DiClemente, Managing Director, Nomera, said, “The U.S. ad growth is robust and we have upped our forecast. TV is showing unexpected resilience.” That is this season. The projection may change in two or three years as Anthony admitted, “Automation of TV ad selling is causing concern.”

Affiliate fees are an area of current concern, however. There are persistent concerns regarding cord cutting and shaving and the further consolidation in the distribution space. “We are shifting to larger and more scaled companies,’ said Anthony, “What is media doing with their cash? Are they investing organically? Are they automating? Or are they buying stock back? We applaud companies organically and investing in the right way such as in infrastructure, programming etc.”

What the Research Says
The ARF recently completed an ambitious series of studies to measure how advertising works. "We collected 40 industry leaders together, committed $1million investment on three studies over 5000 campaigns, twelve years of data, $375B in advertising spend in 41 countries across over 100 categories  in the areas of Cross platform ROI, improve creative and mobile mastery," explained ARF CEO Gayle Fuguitt. The insights were that advertisers need to invest across platforms, combine traditional and digital media, optimize digital by capping frequency and unify their creative while keeping in mind the unique characteristics of each platform to optimize performance.

“Targeting purchasers by direct match at scale increases ROI,” explained Bill Harvey, Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor, TiVo Research. “TiVo Research proved it with multiple advertisers. Now Simulmedia is proving it by running 72 campaigns for advertisers in 2015 using the same methods and showing ROI improvements in the same range as TiVo i.e. up to +250%. Simulmedia is also reducing waste frequency and is targeting day of week for recency. An example of a campaign where the same brand’s other TV had half the impressions in the excessive frequency range, the Simulmedia campaign had fewer than 5% in that bucket,” he concluded.

Daniel Slotwiner, Director Advertising Research at Facebook, recently conducted a study with Neuro-Insight on the coordination of TV advertising with digital to get the best impact. “We measured memorability, brand linkage, likability linkage and found the most efficient way to drive awareness.”

Connecting the Dots with Data

There is more data available than ever before and research companies are actively engaged in creating tools to maximize the value of this data. But there are challenges. In the case of Nielsen, Steve Hasker, President and COO explained that, “We have been working with STB data for 7 years, matching it up with credit card data and working on an independent currency measurement using the panel with large databases.” But it has not been easy. “We are chipping away to get access to STB data,” he added, “Most of today's STB data owners can't supply STB data over night.”

Omar Tawakoi, SVP, GM Oracle Data Cloud, said, “We are running a data cloud. Having a census approach is very important. In digital everything is census based and things are starting to get really interesting in TV. We are connecting offline sales to digital activities and want to prove that TV ads drive sales offline.”

“My clients only care if we moved the needle,” said Wes Nichols, Co-Founder, Marketshare, SVP Chief Strategy Officer. “They really don't care about measurement or the brilliance of a campaign etc. There is a huge credibility gap between marketing and the C-suite. We are cobbling together data based measurement and need to get a fuller assessment of our investment.”

Buyers and Sellers of the Eve of the Upfront

What about content providers and buyers? From the sellers side, Arlene Manos, President national Ad Sales, AMC, said, “Data has begun to figure into our discussion. But as a single company, we can’t effect change alone. We are using data to change internally and to figure out how to get viewers acquainted with our diverse programming.”

On the buyers side, Yin Woon Rani, VP, U.S. Marketing at Campbell’s, noted that, “Traditional advertisers take a TV centric viewpoint.  But digital is changing the nature of expectations. It is not that easy to compare between mediums so the real task for marketers is deciding where dollars can go across the media pool.”

But, there has been “an evolution over several years. We are getting more find tuned beyond demographics,” according to M’lou Walker, CEO, Matrixx. Because Matrixx in is the consumer healthcare industry, M’lou said that “Knowing when our consumers are sick is more important for us. We need to find who she is at that moment of illness. So we take segmentation data and find consumers at different points and roll it all up.  TV plus digital gets us much further. We can get to consumer in her moment.”

As Dave concluded, the industry is now “More evolutionary than revolutionary but the evolutionary pace is picking up. We are swimming in data. How to can we best operationalize it?” That will remain the burning question as we are about to enter the next upfront.

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBlogger.com

Yes, Creative and Data Can Be Friends, According to PSFK

Something strange happened at the recent PeopleFront and the PSFK conferences. The PeopleFront, based on the importance of data driven solutions, led to a discussion of the importance of the creative. PSFK, based on the importance of creative ideas, devoted the afternoon to big data, artificial intelligence, IBM’s Watson, cognitive computing and analytical insights. Hey, what gives here? 


At the Peoplefront, Facebooks Director of Ads Research, Daniel Slotwiner noted that "we are all working on data strategy; Data for insights, data for outcomes. But creative is one of the most important things. We can get the right eyeballs in right time and right format but what if it is bad content?"

At PSFK, the discussion of data was intertwined with the creativity of invention. Steven Dean, author of the book, Quantified Self noted that “most individuals don't know what big data means. But if it helps to build the right products it is providing value to consumer.” Tara Greer, EVP/Executive Creative Director, platforms at DEUTSCH LA added that we are “living in big data environment; the Internet of things involving body, health, in home, in vehicles. (For example there are) smart chopsticks to see if you are eating reused oil.” 

How much is data impacting the creative process? For some at the PSFK conference, it helps in curating content. According to Cloth’s co-founder Seth Porges, “Big data is important when assessing different content. It can help curate content for you.” For others it is a gut check. Dean says that he “thinks about the data, but I opt for experiences that are narrative and storytelling - Not numbers. I must make meaning out of the data that is there.”

In the world of gaming, the subtle use of behavior modifiers, including the use of a certain color, is tested. Jamin Warren, founder of Kill Screen, explained the phenomena of GamerGate and the misogyny in the gaming world. “There are flaws in how we communicate online. (We have experimented with) changing color of text to see if it impacts behavior.”

But when does data cross over the line? How much is too much? Greer explained that there is a “gap between big data and big wisdom. Measurement used to be an epiphany but there are challenges to move beyond the data to create meaningful experiences.” Porges added, “You run the risk of losing taste when you apply too much data. (You) need a chance to experiment outside the data.”

There is a “big moral question” according to Greer regarding data privacy. “More people are cognizant today but years ago big data was utopian. Now there is a big rebellion against big data.” But Dean admitted that “there are some aspects of my life that I would like to leave up to an algorithm, like what should I eat, for example.” In a perfect, more on-demand world, data could be used as a benevolent influencer. Tegan Faan, founder at Gigit said, “Data in an algorithm can give me simplicity. It can make my life simpler and match people to their unique interests. Personalization.”

In my experience, creative and quant have had a love/ hate relationship. Research could be held up by creators as a vindication of their gut instincts or a report card of their lacking performance. But I have always felt that the two disciplines are intertwined.  If data is the messenger, it is the content that forms the message. Without either you just have meaningless noise.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

First Upfronts, Then New Fronts and Now PeopleFronts

We have Upfronts and Newfronts. Do we need another “front”? Dave Morgan of Simulmedia thinks so and has launched the PeopleFront with a presentation in NYC this past week. Morgan is one of the most respected executives in the media data space today. His company was an early user of STB data for targeted television marketing, which is why, when Morgan talks about a PeopleFront, he had a full house of media executives ready to listen.

So what exactly is a People Front? Morgan explained, "We buy people not programs, which is why we developed an audience insights database platform offering data driven people- oriented TV advertising."

Morgan began the presentation with actors, all in the 18-49 age break, describing their various lifestyle and behavioral affinities in a way that clarifies that, while they are all 18-49, they are all very different media and marketing targets. While not especially different from lifestyle segments that have been in the industry for decades with Prizm or VALs for example, we do seem to be heading more towards a closer one-to-one targeting capability.  And with the recent announcement that Nielsen and Simulmedia are partnering with to develop a measurement capability for long tail cable network measurement, the race for measurement solutions to facilitate targeting is heating up.

As part of the program, Jack Myers hosted a panel consisting of content buyers and sellers as well as Simulmedia and Nielsen representatives. Leading off was Nielsen’s Steve Hasker who outlined Nielsen’s key priorities. Hasker said that one of the key priorities was “Working with Simulmedia and putting Nielsen ratings with Dave’s analytics and STB data” admitting that “we have some work to do in local.” 

There is the opinion that with Nielsen, innovation often comes in response to perceived competitor initiatives. Myers spoke for many in the audience when he asked, “Nielsen’s history is that it doesn't move forward. How do we know that Nielsen is moving forward (in people measurement innovation)?”  Hasker responded that “Nielsen has and the privilege of being considers currency by the buyers and sellers. We can't just wake up one morning and say that we are going to change the metric. We have a methodical process to go through. Our clients say they want to get beyond demographics. We have our own sets of products that get beyond datasets. One true thing about using age and gender is that it is true of the population. Advertisers want specific people but there is value of age and gender in the mix. We must make sure that all of the data that we have is made available to those who want to add its secret sauce.”  All this caution is great except the industry appears to be moving faster and impatience among the clients is growing. As Campbell Soup Company’s Yin Woon Rani said, “Nielsen is taking input from clients but there is a big learning bell curve.”

In the client sector, interested in People Front audience targeting is keen. Rani explained, “We have a lot of small audiences making up that soup franchise and we use STB data to have our creative delivered to more specific target. It is a pragmatic use of the data. We create a message with that person in mind.  So the core focus of why this (People Front approach) is valuable is that we cultivate segments but then have to buy our media on age gender.  Now you can marry content creative choices with media choices.” Mark Kaline, formerly of Kimberly Clark added, “We are all interested in measuring outcomes. If we can get to individuals and people targets, you can get more clarity and provide effectiveness.”

The research portion of the panel included Discovery’s Sharon O’Sullivan, Turner’s Howard Shimmel and Simulmedia’s John Piccone. All of these executives are involved in finding measurement solutions through big data sets. O’Sullivan noted that there are now “many data sources. Every client wants something different. Some want TRA. Some want Rentrak. Simulmedia has wealth of data. It is refreshing not to have to sell something with a standard mix.” Myers noted that research has historically been a staff area but there is a new movement afoot as Shimmel explained, “We are trying to evolve research away from being a cost center. We target using all these datasets. Recent tests we have done using data to optimize a client’s mix resulted in a 10-30% increase in grps.”

The march towards better consumer targeting, whether as part of a PeopleFront or  through some other codified industry movement, might finally lead to welcomed a readjustment of audience valuation. Shimmel noted that “CPMs for W18-49 could be $10 but for heavy soup eaters it could be $50.” And for those of us in a certain less desirable age group, Jack Myers spoke for many, “I am “55+ and by most measurement targets I am irrelevant. But my spending is not.” I hear you, Jack.