Is There a Future for Research? An Interview with Jeff Boehme

I have known media veteran, Jeff Boehme, from our days at NBC in the 1980s and since then, he has had a varied and interesting media career path. “I’m a veteran of local broadcast rep firms, NBC, ABC, NCC Media, Nielsen, Kantar Media, Rentrak and Comscore,” he explained where he concentrated on audience evaluations and processes for media currency acceptability. He has some strong opinions about where media is today and the role that research and data plays in it.

Charlene Weisler:  What role should data play in media today?

Jeff Boehme: Data always played a critical role in media. Content is now distributed on more types of technology than ever. Virtually all of these digital devices collect usage information and have been enabled in the marketplace by a multitude of companies. Content providers have taken advantage of technology by supplementing their traditional distribution infrastructure with streaming capabilities through over the top (OTT) platforms. Brand marketers realize the potential of reaching customers with far greater efficiency and effectiveness through addressable advertising across multiple platforms and content.

But defining the benefits of efficiency and effectiveness is not a standardized process; there are real issues surrounding the massive data sets collected from these digital devices and becoming ubiquitous as media currency. Ultimately data can and should be leveraged to maximize the effectiveness of the three basic pillars of brand advertising – creating awareness, reinforcing equity and driving purchases.

Weisler: What types of data are most important and what is currently missing?

Boehme: Over five years ago we understood the remarkable advantages of ‘big data’ expressed as the three V’s - volume, velocity, and variety. The sheer scale of anonymous, passively-collected user information provides much more statistically sound results than traditional small panels and surveys. However, most every big data set is incomplete and may not include essential data elements required for currency acceptance, making traditional tools still necessary to supply missing data points. I would add there should be a few more Vs to consider – the validation of the data (how accurate it is) and the ultimate V – its value. The value of the data ultimately answers the questions posed by the brand and can be accepted as currency on all sides of the ecosystem with confidence.

The good news is we now have more data than ever before - the bad news is that there are significant inconsistencies with the sources, collection techniques, methodology, standards, transparency and importantly – conclusions. All major cable MSOs are offering their tuning data to a variety of companies, as are virtually all connected TV (CTV) manufacturers. I have seen significant disparities on results depending on whom and how a company processes, manages, applies statistical corrections and matches census segments.

Weisler: Should age and gender still form the basis of currency?

Boehme: While age/gender metrics are still valuable criteria of value for brands and media, they have been supplemented with more relevant information including major census breaks and product usage. It was only in the late ‘70s when automotive brands finally looked at the data and revealed that women were the dominant influencer in car purchases. This transformed the industry in terms of understanding the real consumer, how to design new vehicles (think mini-van) and media investment placement strategies. Currency options now include actual auto ownership household impressions based on ‘auto intenders’ created by matching massive tuning and car ownership.

It really wasn’t until 1987 when Nielsen launched their people meter service that age/gender metrics became the de facto currency. However, many brand marketers learned that age/gender weren’t enough to efficiently plan or buy media – specifically for high spending categories such as automobiles. Most consumer purchaser data sets available today are household-specific and include information more relevant than just age/gender. Knowing that a household has pending lease expiration for a BMW is more valuable than simply counting adults 25-54.

Weisler: What is your opinion of the general state of attribution?

Boehme: Channeling Sergio Leone’s epic masterpiece western film “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” - The Good is we now have a plethora of consumer-based intelligence and media companies are able to use attribution techniques to see a finer view of the customers’ behavior across screens and determine what components of media campaigns work (or don’t). The Bad is the complexity of data, multiple data sources, missing data points/deprecation and differing methodologies. The Ugly is there doesn’t appear to any consistent standards – resulting in significant outcome discrepancies.

Last year, CIMM completed a study on attribution which found the inconsistency of key television attribution inputs, not technology, is the main cause of variance in outcome measurements. They compared eleven different providers and determined, “more stringent media measurement standards are required to ensure attribution results that are consistent and comparable from provider to provider, with exposure data, more than occurrence data having the biggest impact on outcome results.”  I agree with their findings and with their report’s other recommendation requiring additional standardization, such as commercial IDs similar to Ad-ID, for identifying ad occurrences and in defining exposure and reach.

Weisler: What do you think is the most important issue facing Research at this time?

Boehme: Most research groups are a cost entry on a ledger, requiring investment without a direct responsibility for cash flow. Many successful researchers have learned to move quickly, adopt better data skill sets and provide actionable input into a sales process and discover how their company can be more profitable. Many companies see data scientists as a replacement for the research process but smart companies see the value of both, with complementary skill sets and valuable disciplines. The simplest distinction may be that the data scientist determines what could be accomplished with data and the researcher helps define what should be done with the data.

Weisler: Where do you see the Research function at media companies in the next five years?

Boehme: Data science has helped us improve our capabilities with disciplined scientific and technology-enabled approaches, beyond traditional research processes. However, Research is still a vitally imperative function as it is responsible for the objective analysis of the data with the clear communication of insights, business implications and recommendations. We have all witnessed the perils of utilizing large datasets without sufficient oversight in its contextual use case. Ultimately the most successful companies will discover research and data science are opposite sides of the coin – connected they bring greater value.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

 

 

Finding the Secret Sauce for a New News Service. An Interview with WGN’s Sean Fassett.

How can an enterprising company like Nexstar find a core distinctive market position in a crowded field such as news? Sean Fassett, VP Research and Insights, WGN America & Antenna TV, has been applying his research skills at finding the answer. 

Nexstar has just announced the launch of News Nation which is carving out the middle of the road for primetime news coverage. Fassett explained that this is an, “alternative to the news talk show choices on cable TV today utilizing the 110 local Nexstar Newsrooms across the US, with over 5500 Reporters in the field.” The service is headquartered in Chicago with additional reporters in Miami, NY, Dallas, LA and DC.

Charlene Weisler: What research did you conduct on News Nation?

Sean Fassett:  We have conducted four custom Research studies pre-launch to gauge the marketplace, develop an awareness of what people felt was missing in their primetime news, test taglines, determine genres of stories important to viewers in a post COVID world and understand the overlap of digital and linear news usage.

Weisler: Can you share some of the takeaways?

Fassett: The promise of an “Unbiased Newscast, No Opinions” and a “Facts Only Newscast” drew the support of nearly 75% of respondents across all demos and ages. More than 6 in 10 viewers want national news reporting that does not give indications of a networks political affiliation. They don’t want a news broadcast to tell me what to think or have a host tell his opinions. They want the facts to make their own decision.

Weisler: Were there any surprises?

Fassett: What we found interesting is that most of the respondents know that the cable news they are watching on TV are politically left or right driven, but they don’t have any other choices on TV.  While conducting internal research across two different Research firms, we correlated those results with research from syndicated services to show that the majority of the U.S. citizens are politically middle of the road, or politically agnostic. This presents us with a large opportunity to deliver news reporting that is politically agnostic.

For example, one tagline tested was “Your News Matters”. We found that respondents felt we were telling them we are presenting news we felt mattered to them. “Your News, Your Nation” was ultimately decided on as respondents this tagline spoke more to our brand promise: we are presenting your news across their nation - Our ability to present both sides and present stories that are important to them.

Weisler: How has the research been used so far?

Fassett: The research has been used to gauge the marketplace, show that people embrace our positioning, track our awareness, intent to view, and assist our marketing department on the rollout of their national promotion effect which hit the streets on 8/17.

Weisler:  Is there any further research planned?

Fassett: Post launch we plan on continued monitoring of social media, ongoing weekly awareness and intent to view, and evaluation of Nielsen ratings. We also will be conducting focus groups, online panels, and will be tapping into Research that allows our Programming team to see what stories are resonating across all the Nexstar stations locally. Some stories that may not be top of mind or carried by other networks allow us to give voices to the voiceless locally but at a national level. In addition to our custom research, we will be utilizing syndicated services from social, digital services and Nielsen ratings.

Weisler: What are the most important metrics to use?

Fassett: Metrics of success will always be evolving. Right now our most important metrics are program and network awareness and intent to view. After launch we will need to tap into sentiment, perceptions and delivering on our unwavering promise of middle of the road, non-biased news. While ratings always become a networks typically “gauge of success”, we are planning the network for the long term, and following stories of importance rather than just ratings. We are not chasing stories to drive ratings. Our ratings will be driven by our viewers embracing our stories both on air and on digital. We will also be working with rhetoricians who will be analyzing our anchors and wording to make sure we continue to deliver on that promise

Weisler: What do you see as the competitive set?

Fassett: We are competing in a very wide category, both on TV and digital. While most will bucket us going up against the other cable news nets as our competition (CNN, MSNBC, FNC), they also are not. We will not be doing what they are doing. We will not be delivering politically driven talk shows in primetime.  

Weisler: What are the biggest challenges in launching and tracking this new service?

Fassett: One of the biggest challenges is offering news programing on a network not known for news programming. We are going against networks like CNN, now 40 years on TV, MSNBC and FNC are coming up on 25 years.

Weisler: What are the opportunities?

Fassett: The opportunities are to serve the community with those stories which are important nationally but sometimes don’t make it out of the local markets. Utilizing the 1000’s of hours of news produced across the 196 Nexstar stations allows us the opportunity to make that happen.

Weisler: Where do you expect to see the service a year from now and what research are you planning to monitor its success?

Fassett: We hope to continue to listen to our viewers and provide them with a service that meets their needs. We hope to grow with them, and embrace new technologies and stories that help them every day.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

How Short Can Ads Be? The ARF Studies the Impact of Six-Second Ads

The ARF and TVision recently released a study examining the impact of six-second ads, offering best practices for those who wish to implement. 

The study, announced in the recent ARF NYCU email, was conducted between October 2017 and May 2018 and tracked participants’ presence and visual attention through a set-top meter using computer vision as they watched television. The study consisted of 256,463 observations of an advertisement playing on a television in one of 1,372 households.

According to the ARF, the study found that visual attention differed by advertisement length, and identified which factors affected visual attention and whether they differ by advertisement length. The study found that the significant predictors of visual attention for 15s and 30s were nearly identical.

Here are the study conclusions:

1. Age –The older you are, the more likely you will pay attention to 15s and 30s. But the effect of age for six second ads was not significant.
2. Broadcast/Cable – Advertisements on cable were less likely to receive visual attention in general. This finding might have been due to the longer advertisement pods that typically are found on cable. The effect of network for sixes was not significant.
3. Daypart – Relative to primetime, advertisements run in all other dayparts were less likely to receive visual attention. Daypart played the largest role in determining visual attention for both 15s and 30s. The effect of daypart for sixes was not significant.
4. Gender – The gender of the viewer was not a significant factor in visual attention for any advertisement length.
5. Pod position – Compared with being first in a pod, all three advertisement lengths were less likely to receive visual attention when in the middle of a pod. Being solo in the pod was the largest factor for increasing visual attention for sixes.

This article first appeared in Cynopsis.

Ad-Supported Media Continues to Rule

While today’s media consumers have a greater choice of content through ad-free or ad-blocked environments, the belief that ad-supported media is on the decline is just not true, according to a recent study by Nielsen. 

Nielsen announced that despite the changes in content availability through increased platform and device options, “over the last 15 years, ad-supported media is still far more dominant and successful than perception may indicate.”

Peter Katsingris, SVP Audience Insights, Nielsen, noted the following study highlights:

     >  86% of the share of time spent on media platforms for adults was with ad-supported content in 2017. This usage was relatively flat over the past decade off slightly from 2002 where the share  was 89%.

     >  Despite the proliferation of devices into the media ecosystem, engagement with ad-supported content has kept pace even as penetration percentages for newer platforms have grown.

     >  Time spent with ad-supported content has grown and maintained a consistent ratio with overall time spent. Consumers are actually spending more time with media, increasing by more than 25 hours between 2002 and 2017. 

I sat down with Peter and asked him the following questions:

Charlene Weisler: Any surprises in the results of the study?

Peter Katsingris: Sometimes the surprises come not in the change, but in the consistency. Not every study or analysis will have that percentage spike or huge growth in reach. I wasn’t particularly surprised by the findings, because I’m always analyzing media behaviors and we know that time spent by adults 18+ is still strong on radio and TV. However, between internet connected devices on the TV set as well as mobile digital devices, I do think there’s room for growth. As most of traditional television and radio are ad supported, it made sense that the majority of time would be spent on ad-supported content.  Thinking digitally, time spent on social media platforms also accounts for ad-supported platforms.  

Weisler: Why do you think ad-supported content continues to be popular?

Katsingris: I don't think consumers think about it that way.  They just want to read, listen, or watch their favorite channels, stations, apps or sites.  Most of those happened to be ad-supported, outside of some subscription based streaming services.  For publishers, advertising is a key part to their business and they continue to innovate how to create the best experience to help brands reach consumers and to bring relevance and value for consumers.  Who knows, maybe we will see non ad-supported content or platforms create alternative ad-supported models in the future as a way to create additional revenue streams.

Weisler: Is there a demographic component to the results – what is the relationship of younger viewers vs older viewers?

Katsingris: The data study was based on adults 18+, so I can’t speak to demographic differences in the context of this data exactly. Generally speaking, younger audiences are obviously more in tune with newer and nascent forms of media and interact differently than their older counterparts. They tend to be  more tech savvy and have a more diverse “palate” of consumption, so to speak, meaning that there’s an abundance of ways they can be reached. 

Weisler: How can ad-supported media continue to hold onto viewers?

Katsingris: I think this is a challenge for any content provider, ad-supported or not. It’s often said that “content is king” and I think that sentiment holds true in many instances. If something is produced that’s worth listening to, watching or reading, consumers will gravitate towards that. Advertising has to serve the consumer, and when it comes down to it, it’s all about delivering on relevancy and creating positive memories. 

Weisler: How much multi-tasking is going on and how does that behavior trend?

Katsingris: The study did not go into multitasking, but on a broader level, consumers are definitely interacting with more platforms and spending more time overall with media as well. I think that is why it’s important for marketers to have solid and pinpointed cross-platform and social strategies and for content to be measured across non-traditional channels, which is the value that Nielsen’s Total Audience framework brings.

Weisler: Where do you see ad-supported media going in the next five years?

Katsingris: It’s hard to answer and we don’t project forward, but based on this trend over the past 15 years, it has potential to stay in a similar range. It all depends on how the business models evolve and adapting to the changing landscape. The world of media and advertising has certainly changed, and there is definitely a multitude of new ways for people to interact with media and for brands to reach consumers. Ad-supported content has been a staple in the media industry for quite some time, which is a testament to how impressionable across decades it truly is. 

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com