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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Focusing on Mobile and App Data. An Interview with Sabio’s Aziz Rahimtoola

For Aziz Rahimtoola, CEO and Co-Founder of Sabio, the richness of mobile data is one of the keys to understanding consumer behavior. “Sabio means wise or experienced in Spanish,” he noted. His company strives to address the issues with current panel measurement systems through mobile and app data.  

 

Charlene Weisler: What is the state of CTV/OTT in general at this time and where is it headed?

 

Aziz Rahimtoola: The CTV/OTT media landscape is quite fragmented due to the various operating system platforms and increased competition from every angle. This is good for consumers as it allows choice, but it will continue to be confusing for marketers. 

 

Weisler: In terms of methodology, what approach is best for marketers?

 

Rahimtoola: I believe that app data is more effective than panels in understanding consumer behaviors. This has been validated by Nielsen and other panel-based companies that admit to not effectively understanding streamers (app users) or diverse audiences via panels. In the 1970s, when society was 11% and monolithic, panels were more effective than now when at 42%, our population is more diverse.  

 

Weisler: What is App Science?

 

Rahimtoola: App Science combines data signals from 280 million active mobile and 110 million CTV devices and closes the quality gap between multicultural and general market data. Traditional survey panels have historically underrepresented and undercounted multicultural segments of the population. By analyzing CTV and mobile device data, App Science draws a complete picture of multicultural audiences, their preferences, and interests. They also provide trends and insights for their clients to help them better understand consumer actions and interests so they can make better strategic business decisions. This can entail programming preferences, competitive analyses, industry vertical insights, or multicultural and diverse audience trends that traditional measurement companies typically underrepresent.

         

Weisler: What data do you at Sabio collect and apply?

 

Rahimtoola: We have GDPR and CCPA-compliant ways of obtaining mobile and CTV/OTT IDs. We also use machine learning extensively to understand consumers via predictive modeling better. In addition, we provide advertisers with a pixel, or a snippet of code used for tracking, that can be applied across media buys to measure campaigns. The information can help to compare viewership among different platforms and avoid targeting the same audiences repeatedly.

 

Overall, we capture over one terabyte of mobile and CTV/OTT data daily and ensure that everything is ethically sourced, privacy compliant, and cleansed. This data contains a wide range of metadata that allows us to apply machine learning algorithms and other predictive modeling to considerably understand consumers’ demographics, points of interest, behaviors, and life stages. From there, we can create granular audience insights and segments that can be applied to media buys and measure campaigns’ effectiveness.

 

Weisler: How do you craft segments from your data?

 

Rahimtoola: Segments are created from a collection of CTV and mobile data where we apply the nearest neighbor, lookalikes and another predictive modeling to various attributes. When we look at the data collected from CTV/OTT and mobile, we analyze various attributes such as app ecosystem, technographic, brand visitation, purchase signals, and census data and further verify with trusted 3rd party sources. From there, we apply machine learning algorithms such as the closest neighbor, lookalikes, associations, and topic modeling to create clusters, user profiles, and audience segments that all connect back to our proprietary 55MM household graph. 

 

Weisler: How does Sabio differ from other platforms in the CTV/OTT space?

 

Rahimtoola: Sabio Holdings is the only company outside Roku with a complete end-to-end CTV/OTT technology suite of services. We can partner up with content creators and launch apps along with creating and distributing add breaks in content with our newly acquired Vidillion SSP (Supply Side Platform) acquisition, monetize them via our Sabio DSP, all while providing differentiated non-panel-based analytics via its App Science platform.

 

Weisler: How do you use your data to inform political campaigns?

 

Rahimtoola: We enhance National voter files with insights that help identify a political party’s viewing habits, app behaviors, points of interest, and key issues that matter to them most so that they can use this audience insights to inform their future campaigns, validate they are reaching their audience, and optimize in real-time.

 

Weisler: What were some of the trends in political advertising leading up to the midterms?

 

Rahimtoola: Looking back on November 8^th, we noticed the most notable political advertising trends being the increase in growth in CTV and OTT.  The political sector has always been reluctant to buy into CTV, but compared to 2018, the shift has been dramatic. Prior, most political ad spending has been programmatic. We also saw an increase in the use of QR codes, and interestingly, there’s been a multicultural shift. In previous years agencies said they didn’t have a big enough budget for the Hispanic demographic. Still, there has been an increase in the general market putting money into the multicultural market.

 

First published in www.MediaVillage.com Thought Leaders

 Artwork by Charlene Weisler

How Strong is the Consumer Trust in Your Brand? Jebbit’s Taylor Donnell Reveals All

Trust in brands has seen a great shift among consumers according to Jebbit’s Taylor Donnell, Vice President, Content and Partnerships Marketing, whose company just released the results of a new online study of 2500 25-64 year olds. Some business sectors were hit hard as consumer trust declined precipitously. Others benefited, debunking previously held beliefs of what is needed to cement consumer trust.

Charlene Weisler: What are the study's major takeaways?

Taylor Donnell: Highlights include the following - This CDTI edition’s rankings reflect the largest shifts in brand trust rankings to date - Google fell from #4 most trusted brand to #89, Apple fell from #17 to #43, and Netflix went from #8 to #43, indicating there’s room for brands to improve the education (and communication tactics) that they provide to their users regarding data privacy changes.

Brands must be thoughtful and strategic with the data points they seek to capture as 30% of consumers said ‘asking for too much information,’ again ranked as the #1 factor that results in brand mistrust.

Pandemic trends are no longer trends because they're here to stay, with 63% of consumers surveyed saying their online shopping usage has increased since the start of the pandemic, and 40% say they’re seeing more irrelevant online ads than ever before - 46% agreed that irrelevant online ads from a business based on past purchase data decreased trust in that brand.

D2C brand Bonobos jumped to #9 from #90, indicating that legacy brand awareness doesn’t guarantee a high trust index ranking - 43% trust brands in both D2C and traditional brand categories the same.

Weisler: How does this compare to your previous study?

Donnell: For one thing, we saw quite a big fall in rankings among some of the tech giants, (Google fell from #16 in our last report to #89 in this one). This annually recurring study was first published in 2018 and indicates that consumers’ distrust in major brands continues to increase as many businesses that once held top spots on the consumer trust index have made major shifts down the ranks.

Weisler: Regarding the privacy landscape - both nationally and globally - how do you think this will impact businesses going forward?

Donnell: The CDTI report found that while 63% of consumers are spending more time shopping online than they were prior to the start of the pandemic, 75% of businesses had a harder time building and maintaining trust with their customers. To gain and/or maintain consumer trust, business must be more transparent than ever about their privacy and data collection practices as well as ensure digital communications with consumers are relevant, welcome and engaging. 46% of consumers agreed that irrelevant online ads from a business based on past purchase data ultimately decreased the amount of trust they had in the brand whose ad they saw, showing that brands cannot afford to send irrelevant, repetitive or intrusive communications to shoppers.

Weisler: How fully informed is the average consumer on Google and Apple privacy policies, in your opinion?

Donnell: 30% of the 2,500 consumers in the survey stated that they were unaware that Apple and Google made any changes to privacy policies at all. We think there is plenty of room to provide more education and educational resources that will give consumers a better grasp as to how businesses, mobile-apps, browsers, etc. track their online behavior and generate revenue using their personal data.    We also believe that while these changes are good and built to protect consumers, big tech continues to take advantage of burying communications about any changes/updates that impact users by burying them in their complex and lengthy privacy policies and / or terms & conditions pages.

Weisler: Do you think Google's fall in the rankings might be due to other factors?

Donnell: On the one hand, many of the biggest players in tech continue to tread against bad PR, which may provide some evidence for Google's at least part of the reason that Google dropped 73 spots! However, this is a bit of a head scratcher given that Google has taken momentous steps to put consumers and their privacy first, including both company's announced privacy changes to their Android operating system as well as its plans to deprecate the third-party cookie.

Weisler: What should businesses do to maximize trust with consumers?

Donnell: Businesses should proactively communicate how they collect and use consumer data in order to build trust. When consumers willingly volunteer more information about themselves (i.e. first- or zero-party data) businesses should respond by clearly demonstrating the genuine value they can in turn provide for consumers, through helpful and welcome communications. Over time, this will help the customer trust the business to use their data respectfully and ultimately increase the lifetime value of the customer. One key takeaway was that while legacy brands may have the advantage of brand recognition (35% of consumers polled stated that they still trust traditional brands more than online, direct-to-consumer brands), they should also take a page from many D2C brands, which seem to fare better in consumer trust, perhaps because they appear to better understand the needs of digital consumers, which enables them to focus on delivering an engaging and relevant user experience. Although only 22% of consumers polled trust D2C brands more, 43% trust brands in both categories the same!

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

Artwork by Charlene Weisler