The Confusion Between Data and Measurement

If you read enough about what is going on in our industry today, you will see that Data is an all-powerful presence. It seems to command every conversation and rule over every project. As statistician W. Edwards Deming once quipped, “In God we trust. All others must bring data.”
But in our effusive fealty to Data, we sometimes give it more unfettered control over decision-making than it deserves. Not all data is relevant and not all data is good and pure. It needs to be assessed, put into context and framed by measurement. While there is no measurement without some form of data, data alone is unusable unless it is put into a structured measurement framework.
So I knew you would ask for definitions. In the media world, data is essentially a rough and structure-less collection of different types of quantities that has the potential to be used to draw conclusions.  Measurement enables us to draw accurate conclusions from the data by creating a logical structure for analysis. Data needs a logical and accurate measurement to be useful. Measurement without data is irrelevant.

“There are a lot of companies and agencies in the market cobbling together raw data or portions of data and mistaking that for actionable intelligence,” noted Sean Muller, CEO of the TV measurement company iSpot. “In order to use data effectively, it’s critical that the inputs into a model are cleaned, normalized and contextualized properly or entire framework will be off. Doing things like attribution using data that is not measurement grade or that is ad-hoc in nature is like building a house on the beach without preparing for the weather and tide patterns. Things will crumble pretty quickly,” he added.

Today, there are all types of data being thrown off from devices, culled from the internet, collected by businesses and otherwise amassed through various means. Data takes on many forms and sizes. There is attitudinal data that is more qualitative (like a series of open-ended comments) and data that looks like a bunch of unrelated numbers (MAC addresses coupled with viewing levels).

In the old days of television measurement, companies such as Nielsen relied on small representative samples to project the full population of television households and viewers. They took their viewing data and created measurement using edit rules and algorithms that formatted and contextualized their dataset into a projectable larger behavioral context. And yes, it was fairly accurate … as long as your network had enough meters in the sample to get statistically reliable projections.

In 1985, Nielsen’s sample size of 5,500 represented approximately 84.9 million homes (or just less than 0.01 percent of all TV households) when media options were less fragmented. But as omni-channel options expanded and the number of viewing opportunities increased, this small a sample measurement just didn’t cut it anymore. Currently, Nielsen estimates 119.9 million U.S. TV households with a sample of 40,000, or just over .03 percent of total U.S. TV homes. To Nielsen’s credit, they continue to expand their sample to include more national meters, portable people meters and the incorporation of local meters into the national sample. All are steps in the right direction but it might still not be enough for the tiny members of our media club.

Today, ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) measurement in TV is shaking things up. Nielsen recently bought Gracenote, in part to help layer in a much broader sample set from TV makers, to collect information from the glass of TVs regardless of which device or service is being used to deliver content and ads to the home. But the challenge is how to add that specific data source into the traditional and profitable metric of GRPs. Independent companies like Inscape, which licenses glass level viewing detection from over 11 million VIZIO SmartTVs, are offering datasets that are being incorporated into new systems used by networks, agencies and brands.

“The world is awash in data but without context, it isn’t useful. And without proper measurement you can’t find proper context,” said Allison Stern, co-founder of Tubular Labs, which, she says, is the only company to measure social video on a truly global scale. “In Tubular’s case we organize a massive amount of data about social video and then using measurement we can find trends around content types, and the velocity, engagement rates, and even audience quality that helps people make decisions.”

The advancements of these new data sources, coupled with the exploration of new measurement metrics, is a healthy evolution for media from a delivery scorecard to business outcome attribution. Measurement companies such as iSpot contribute to that effort along with companies that offer cross platform planning tools such as Omnicom, VideoAmp and 4C. All of this is at the center of the new addressable advertising consortium, Project OAR, which currently has nine networks signed on. All of these efforts successfully move data from its raw form into a projectable measurement that can be applied to business intelligence.

 This article first appeared in TV[REV]

Header photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

TV Legacy Systems Holding Back Advanced Advertising Efforts?

Legacy data may provide a standardized measurement platform, but “data is advancing more quickly than our ability to transact on it,” Mike Rosen, NBCU’s evp, advanced advertising and platform sales, told attendees at NewBay Media’s Advanced Advertising conference in NYC Mon. “In TV, there are so many legacy principles that have been around for decades. Data is happening so quickly that the industry has trouble figuring out how it fits.”

One2one Media pres Mike Bologna, argued that “if advertising has to be advanced, then the data has to be better than the past. We need different forms of data to best calculate.” TV’s legacy infrastructure, however, can impede advanced advertising growth.
“We are dealing with a lot of legacy systems, and they are not going anywhere,” said Doug Hurd, co-founder, evp business development, clypd. “We are trying to reduce friction, but it is hard and the least sexiest part of the business.”

Sarah Foss, chief product officer, advertising management systems at Imagine Communications, said the TV model needs some creative re-adaptation. “The business model has always changed. We are multichannel now,” she said. “We are selling TV to get to audience and devices in different ways. Most of our clients are selling impressions and Macgyvering it back into the system.”
Of course, when it comes to cross-platform measurement, “frenemies” must sometimes work together, and OpenAP is one example of three major media competitors doing just that. Noah Levine, svp, advertising data & technology solutions at Fox Networks Group, explained that OpenAP was designed to offer “consistency in audience definitions and sizing, consistency in sharing across sellers and facilitating a mechanism to provide posts from OpenAP data companies such as Nielsen and comScore.”

VideoAmp chief strategy officer Jay Prasad said predicted standards adoption within the next two years: “Advanced currencies backed by attribution data will replace GRPs and siloed digital measurement.” — Charlene Weisler for Cablefax

Working Together to Advance TV Advertising. Takeaways From NewBay Media’s Advanced Advertising Conference

Data and its use in advanced advertising targeting continue to be core topics of NewBay Media's Advanced Advertising Conferences. In today’s conference, the impact of data targeting efforts in linear TV spurred discussion about OpenAP, attribution and programmatic.

The major takeaways were as follows:

Legacy Data vs Newer Datasets

To some, legacy data is a paramount measurement tool, offering legitimacy and safety with established, industry accepted standards, quality and auditing. To others, legacy data is holding TV back. “Data is advancing more quickly than our ability to transact on it,” noted Mike Rosen, EVP Advanced Advertising and Platform Sales. “In TV there are so many legacy principles that have been around for decades. Data is happening so quickly that the industry has trouble figuring out how it fits,” he added.

So where does an established TV media company start? "Never start with age and gender," Rosen advised, "Everyone is 25-54 so 25-54 is not a target. What is your outcome for your campaign? Sales? Reach?" Mike Bologna, President of one2one Media, agreed, “If advertising has to be advanced, then the data has to be better than the past. We need different forms of data to best calculate.”

Business Infrastructure is Holding TV Back

Beyond data, it is the legacy infrastructure of the TV business that can impede its advanced advertising growth. Facebook and Google have put TV in a corner as a branding tool. “TV much more powerful than brand building and we tend to get trapped. We say, ‘That is what you do, so just keep doing it.’ But TV offers much more value beyond branding,” noted Rosen.

“We are dealing with a lot of legacy systems and they are not going anywhere. We are trying to reduce friction but it is hard and the least sexiest part of the business,” explained Doug Hurd, Co-Founder, EVP Business Development, clypd. However, Sarah Foss, Chief Product Officer, Advertising Management Systems, Imagine Communications, saw the TV model as more flexible, though it needed some creative re-adaptions. “The business model has always changed. We are multichannel now,” she stated, “We are selling TV to get to audience and devices in different ways. Most of our clients are selling impressions and macgyvering it back into the system.”

Cross Platform Measurement is a Team Sport

There is a lot of talk about "frenemy" companies working together to find solutions. OpenAP is a great example of three major media competitors working together for a common solution. Noah Levine, SVP Advertising Data, Technology Solutions, Fox, explained that OpenAP was designed to offer, “Consistency in audience definitions and sizing, consistency in sharing across sellers and facilitating a mechanism to provide posts from OpenAP data companies such as Nielsen and comScore.”

This collaborative effort might be the tipping point for more joint initiatives. "The industry is ready to work together" to move cross platform measurement forward, according to Jay Prasad, Chief Strategy Officer, VideoAmp. “It’s time to figure it out and to measure impressions,” he added, advocating measurement progress in three steps:

·         “Crawl” = getting an age and gender metric across linear and digital.

·         “Walk” = measuring advanced targets such as age and gender plus income across linear, addressable, and digital.

·         “Run” = Measure any digital target, even advertiser CRM based segments on all video playback formats including the above plus OTT plus VOD plus DVR over an entire flight of a campaign, and not just C3 or C7.

Prasad believes that the adoption of standards is close at hand. He forecast that in the next two years, “Advanced currencies backed by attribution data will replace GRPs and siloed digital measurement.”

Conclusion

Whatever the new technologies and datasets bring to TV and advanced advertising, it will be exciting and will require constant adaption to change. Some companies are getting out ahead of the change by partnering with competing companies. Others are creatively adapting legacy systems to the new normal. Whether we crawl, walk or run, the great takeaway of the day is that we need to do it together.

This article first appeared in CableFax.

The Cross-screen Measurement Experience. Interview with VideoAmp’s Ross McCray

Ross McCray, Co-Founder and CEO, VideoAmp, studied math and astrophysics at UCLA before he dropped out and found his fortune in media technology. As an early technologist in the YouTube space, he supported viral video before starting VideoAmp in 2014 to, “enable advertisers and content owners a way to transact cross platform seamlessly solved from software perspective.” His company melds linear TV consumption data (viewership and ad exposure) with digital and mobile, offering insights into cross-screen video campaigns. 

Charlene Weisler: Ross, describe your cross platform capabilities.

Ross McCray: Our Advanced Television advertising platform enables advertisers to run cross-screen video campaigns that combine the efficient targeting of digital video with the reach of broadcast TV. Additionally, ATV uses data from our user graph that connects households and devices to viewing behavior. This enables advertisers to plan, buy, package, and measure the success of de-duplicated and precisely targeted campaigns that reach broadcast TV, VOD, OTT, desktop, and mobile audiences.   

Charlene Weisler: What metrics do you use or have developed?

Ross McCray: We are focused on digital data mapped to linear viewership and can provide metrics such as incremental reach, de-duplicated audiences, concentration scores and indexes. The industry needs to stop using demographic data and GRPs to program television advertising and start using digital data to get more precise and superior reporting and normalize that data against Nielsen or comScore. 

Charlene Weisler: What data do you receive and how do you collect and consolidate it?

Ross McCray: We see all types of data in the streams we receive. There is traditional panel measurement where you subscribe to a digital panel of about a 20,000 household size. We approach data across devices so our datasets are much larger than the traditional panels. We use cookies, mobile and other devices and use both deterministic and probabilistic modeling to match and authenticate. And we have agreements around TV consumption data and extrapolate. We also receive data directly from set-top box and Smart-TV manufacturers using ACR. So we essentially receive data from three categories of sources on a second by second basis. We attach node devices to cross platform devices where we associate this with cookies and mobile devices into a unique user. So for example, we can look at a user who comes up in the data and we ask, ‘what do we know about this guy?’ We know he saw this ad twice on linear TV last week. Should we feed him this exact same ad again?

Charlene Weisler: Is your data really second by second?

Ross McCray: Every set-top box is different however we access data every quarter-hour coupled with ACR vendor data which reports every second.  It also depends on what you define as a view. We can get to that level of granularity using cable apps and defining what a view means.

Charlene Weisler: How do you deal with privacy issues if you can get down to the individual user?

Ross McCray: VideoAmp adheres to the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-regulatory Principles of Online Behavioral Advertising. While VideoAmp itself does not engage in Online Behavioral Advertising, certain VideoAmp Services enable its customers to use audience data to enhance their targeting of ads.

Furthermore, as the privacy standards around advanced advertising continue to evolve,  we make sure we are always compliant and within the guidelines of all the regulatory bodies like the DAA and NAI as well as all Federal guidelines and the TV consumption device’s Terms of Service.

Charlene Weisler: Where do you see the industry five years from now?

Ross McCray: That is a super long time in this industry! I would like to say that automation and data driven targeting will be in full swing – for sure and without a doubt. Second, it will be de-facto that we will be transacting in de-duplicated audiences on both the demand and supply side. There are benefits on both sides and they will be working together on this. They are already working on this in the upfront. This year we are already seeing pilots on that and I see that we could reach scale in the next five years. Third, there will be more consolidation with interesting and different actors coming together. Last, agencies are struggling to see what is happening. Every agency has a different structure. Sometimes TV is on top and sometimes digital. When I talk to agencies they say that they now see themselves as consultants or holding companies. There is a huge ‘Game of Thrones’ playing out on the agency side.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

Media Sellers: Craft and Refine Your Sales Pitches

How can a seller best refine their sales pitches so that their content is optimally showcased and valued? Even in this changing media environment, sales rules for optimal valuation are evergreen. Media sellers need to be innovative and creative to keep up.

According to Hanna Gryncwajg, SVP advertising sales at RLTV, “Over the past decade the process of working on advertiser’s brand initiatives has unified the ad sales and marketing teams. The most successful sales executives are not just media savvy, they also need to be creative and marketing-centric.”

Focus on the Client
The number one rule according to senior sales executives is to find out what the client wants and needs. What are their goals? Then, discover other attributes that will help a sales presentation be as relevant and targeted as possible. Research not only the client but also their competitive sets, any market or category challenges, opportunities, and brand messages.

Read the full article on the Videa blog.