The State of Audience Measurement Depends on Who You Ask

There have been major moves lately to address the challenges of audience measurement, including the joint industry committee formed to establish a third-party measurement certification process, Nielsen’s introduction of a cross-platform measurement product, and multiple smaller ad-tech company deals set in place. The industry is strategizing – and struggling – to determine which alternative currencies are here to stay in an uncertain economy, where every eyeball is important. With Upfront season upon us, we have to ask – has progress been fast enough?

“The answer is yes and no,” says Howard Shimmel, Head of Strategy at datafuelX. “It’s great that the industry is moving from having a monopoly to having multiple providers of linear TV measurement. As many have said, having competition should spur each provider to continually innovate and improve the product. The move from panel measurement to big data is important for two reasons: first, it provides great rating accuracy and stability for the long tail of viewing – smaller networks, lower rated programs; second, it greatly enhances the practice of data driven linear, because the sample sizes that each provider offers allows for DDL to be executed against more precise targets and have the ability to leverage all networks and programs, even the long tail.”

Cross-platform, however, is another story. “Where we haven’t made enough progress is on true cross-platform planning/buying/activation/optimization/measurement – especially for agencies supporting their need to create plans that optimize reach and minimize excess frequency,” says Shimmel. “Another area we haven’t made enough progress is on moving our focus beyond buying and selling exposures to incorporating signals that are highly correlated to outcomes or direct measurement of outcomes into our buying and selling.”

Scott McDonald, President and CEO, Advertising Research Foundation would second the notion that while substantial progress has been made, there is still a ways to go. “The underlying technical problems are difficult and stakeholders often want different things, so consensus is hard to achieve,” he observes. “I know everyone wishes that all of the measurement problems had been solved long ago, but their persistence is testament to their difficulty and to the economic importance of getting it right. As the old saw goes, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

If you had to put into buckets the interest level across the industry within alternative measurement, there would be four – but with one underlying theme, posits Roseann Montenes, Head of Precision & Strategic Audience Sales Partnerships at A+E Networks:
– Clients that are in market testing and gathering data while guaranteeing against alternative currency measurement
– Clients doing parallel reads while still guaranteeing against Nielsen/targets
– Clients educating themselves so they can enter cautiously into the marketplace
– Clients with zero interest at all within the spaceThat one underlying theme?

“Everyone is looking for sustainability and one unified source of truth across all platforms,” says Montenes. “There are a lot of inconsistencies within all data sets and it is not a one size fits all model. We need the industry to adapt as one which is why we joined the JIC to help bring that stability to the market within measurement. This is not going to happen overnight nor are we forcing our clients to adapt to new measurement overnight. Forcing clients to transact off of data sets that do not make sense for their ecosystem will feed the chaos that we are trying to get away from. Therefore, we need to gather as much data as possible without rushing down a path that hurts the industry instead of helps the industry.”

Local businesses that advertise, like the ones Borrell Associates deals with, are another matter. “Our outlook is not from the big brands – or those companies with national campaigns with stellar huge agencies – where we imagine most of the pressure for this kind of measurement is coming from,” says Corey Elliott, EVP of Local Market Intelligence at Borrell. “Rather, we deal with the SMBs of the world who are dealing with local media companies – and we hear precious few of them asking for media measurements.

“They are, however, asking for proof of performance. And usually that ask is met with sympathetic nods, reasons why it is so hard to prove out attribution and then, invariably, a display of some kind of media metric. And that’s the way it has been for decades.”

“If there is a bump in sales, I guaran-damn-tee you the advertiser will not care one lick about whether your media company ‘addressed the measurement challenge’ adequately.” – Corey Elliott, Borrell Associates

Local businesses want to be shown where in their market the opportunity is, how they should go about engaging with it, and how well the campaign performed, says Elliott. “If I believe as a media company that a huge opportunity exists for a client to target a particular zip code let’s say, I could partner with the advertiser to understand the business coming from that zip code pre-campaign, develop and run a campaign – then, post-campaign measure the results from that same zip code,” says Elliott. “If there is a bump in sales, I guaran-damn-tee you the advertiser will not care one lick about whether your media company ‘addressed the measurement challenge’ adequately.”

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So measurement experts aren’t all over the map when it comes to the state of the business, exactly, but they do offer differing perspectives. We asked thought leaders to share their insights on where we are now, and where we need to be.

“We are encouraged by the progress we have seen in the past year. We are big believers in big data and are excited for it to be incorporated into currency measurement. The increased coverage and granularity of big data brings much needed accuracy and stability to measurement. At WBD, we took a measured ‘test and learn’ approach with a rigorous evaluation of potential new measurement partners. We felt it was important to understand differences in methodology, reporting, activation and campaign findings across various partners. While we would have loved to bring multi-currency optionality to our clients sooner, thanks to our rigorous evaluation, we are fully confident in our decision to transact with multiple currency partners headings into this year’s Upfront and are confident in our ability to do it at scale.” – Andrea Zapata, EVP, Research, Data and Insights, WBD Ad Sales

“With the overdue and rapid expansion of new measurement companies that are (finally) calculating way past audience verification, we are seeing the marketer’s new measurement practices evolve from ‘trial and test for incremental insights’ to being ready for ‘wide deployment with outcomes expectations’ in the span of just a few years. While we all want these changes to come faster, it’s still gratifying to see many marketer uses of new measurement companies graduate from the lab to the sales floor.” – Sean Cunningham, President and CEO, VAB

“The media industry has shown increased transparency and collaboration in response to the complicated measurement challenges over the past several years, ultimately resulting in great change and innovation. Today, our options expand beyond Nielsen with companies like VideoAmp, iSpot.tv, EDO, Samba, Kantar, ComScore, TVision, and others, which have established themselves as reliable sources for data in the areas of engagement, sales lift, ROI, cross-platform, CTV, DDL, addressable, and beyond. Industry trade groups like the VAB, ARF, CIMM and the ANA are catalysts in addressing the situation, as well. ‘Startup’ platforms like VideoAmp and iSpot have moved quickly, while incumbents like Nielsen and ComScore have been a bit more measured in their approach. Yet, speed doesn’t always equal success, as there are many peripheral parts of measurement that need to align to fulfill the buying and selling process.” – Tom Ziangas, SVP of Revenue and Strategic Research, Hallmark Media

“Great efforts and promise always seem to persist for codified measurement in our industry. And certainly, transactional currencies bringing all forms of streaming and linear television together should be a priority. While streaming to linear measurement challenges remain in the longer cycle of development, accreditation, and acceptance/adoption, we’ve focused more on tools that help CTV advertisers gauge deliverable outcomes today – attribution, brand lift and more.” – John Vilade, Head of Sales at Premion

“The industry must be able to rely on its data with certainty – at the end of the day, advertisers require a holistic picture of the competitive marketplace to make the most effective ad buys, and publishers rely on maximizing the value of their premium inventory. As measurement and performance become key indicators of maximized ROAS, not only is it up to us to define the standard and metrics that make sense – but it is crucial to have a census-level, accurate view of audience measurement, ad spending and ad pricing. Additionally, with increased fragmentation, an abundance of content providers, and various measurement solutions at play, I am a believer of the notion that there is a measurement world in which multiple currencies exist.” – Darrick Li, VP Sales, North America Media Owners, Standard Media Index

“It’s often said that measurement is a team sport, which is undoubtedly the case. It’s also fair to say that, in general, measurement services can be accurate or fast – but it’s hard to be both. The industry is making enormous progress, but there is still much work to be done and providing accurate measurement in a marketplace as complex and fragmented as the US remains challenging. Progress is steady but will take time.

“If there is one area in which we might have expected to see more rapid progress, it’s in the roll-out of standardized definitions and universe assumptions. The Advertising Research Foundation’s DASH study is a step in the right direction, but it would be good to see more rapid progress in these areas.” – John Watts, Managing Director, CIMM

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“Measurement changes cannot be dictated.” – Erin Firneno, Advertiser Perceptions

“While the industry is closer to a measurement consensus, there’s still much progress to be made. Compared to last year, publishers have taken a more collaborative approach and now see that change must come through dialogue with each other and with advertisers. Measurement changes cannot be dictated. New currencies can offer a real benefit to the industry, right now there’s multiple competitive offerings vying for the top spots, which is good. That will get us closer to a short list of providers that offer the most coveted solutions. In our research, advertisers say that the lack of a standard cross-measurement solution is holding the industry back. However, considering buyers have relied on panel data for years, test and learn opportunities, marketplace education and some hand-holding is a better approach than pushing solutions on to advertisers who are not entirely convinced it’s necessary to wean themselves off legacy measurement.” – Erin Firneno, VP of Business Intelligence, Advertiser Perceptions

“As the market is flooded with new ad formats, it’s important to discern between those that truly facilitate onscreen engagement with the remote control and those that simply exploit ubiquitous QR codes. While the latter does serve a specific niche in driving second-screen actions, they pale in comparison to the mass engagement that one can achieve via on-screen interactivity and dynamic elements, where all the action happens on the big screen. Viewers want and will engage with TV ads on the TV at higher rates, interacting with everything from car colorizers to trivia questions. Only experiences that occur on the TV allow for truly immersive mass engagement, as well as self-selected ad experiences tailored to the viewer’s preferences. Additionally, it’s critical to note that most web technology doesn’t work on connected TV devices, which aren’t browser-based. Therefore, agencies must carefully evaluate any ‘streaming ad solutions’ they’re presented with and differentiate those that are limited to web vs. those that run in-app on platforms like Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV.” – Rob Aksman, Co-Founder, Chief Experience Officer, BrightLine

“As an industry, we are making solid progress on measurement, but we have not yet reached the finish line. With CTV attracting a greater share of advertising dollars, it is now becoming more sophisticated from both a consumer experience perspective and as a media channel for advertisers. Brands are moving closer to holistic planning, activation, and measurement of media.

“Providers of CTV data and inventory have an opportunity to shape the landscape of this rapidly growing ad channel, creating something distinct from digital marketing’s data silos and monopolies. These ad networks and media sellers can take a more open approach – a gated community instead of a walled garden – to meet the needs of brands looking to plan and measure their spend across the entire CTV universe. By working with an OEM with a massive global footprint, advertisers can access scaled first-party inventory and data to enable targeting, as well as a deep understanding of what’s hitting the glass. This helps control frequency and minimize ad waste. – Tony Marlow, CMO, LG Ad Solutions

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“Move fast and break things doesn’t need to apply here.” – Matthew Papa, Captify

“I believe the media industry is doing just fine with the evolution of measurement across TV and Digital. There is a broad misconception that the legacy media brands are behind where they need to be, but in reality, their commercial functions are highly complicated that now incorporate multiple different channels that need to be measured. Disruptive technology brands that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars are creating a sense of urgency around change, but this doesn’t mean the industry’s progress is behind. VideoAmp, 605, iSpot, EDO etc, have built brand new technologies for a not so brand new ecosystem, and they have architected some exceptional tech. Move fast and break things doesn’t need to apply here, because we should ensure an equitable outcome for media brands, marketers, and most importantly, the end consumer’s advertising experience.” – Matthew Papa, SVP of Business & Corporate Development, Captify

“The industry is taking steps in the right direction but we aren’t there yet. At Innovid, we believe there should be standards created by an independent, trusted industry body for this new era of linear, connected TV, and digital video.

“The future of TV measurement has the digital impression as the underpinning to enable granular insights that can go beyond just reach to extend into outcomes by platform and device. Why? With an impression-based approach, measurement can focus on the right metrics– such as unique, unduplicated reach or online/offline sales – to provide actionable insights to inform and continuously improve campaign strategy. Using the digital TV impression as the source of truth will allow advertisers to remove the veil that has been obfuscating their TV data for years to get that level of granular insight. Quite simply, digital impressions can deliver upon unique needs of both the buyer AND seller–enabling the seller to get the maximum value for their inventory, and the buyer to clearly understand how the transaction aligns with their unique business goals.” – Krista Panoff, SVP, Global Enterprise Development, Innovid

“The number one topic our clients ask us about is ‘measurement.’ One of the challenges in the topic is really ‘how to frame it?’ If you ask 10 clients, they are likely to give you very different answers regarding ‘what measurement means to them.’ The first step in these engagements is to sit down and walk them through various frameworks to understand their most pressing needs. There are so many new options coming into the market – new advertising tiers in streaming, figuring out universal measurement across environments, understanding AI’s impact on measurement.

“The media industry has made great strides in addressing measurement challenges – covering challenging topics like incrementality, data integration and cross platform reach. Beyond the technical progress, we need to build deeper understanding at multiple levels in organizations about the strengths and limitations of various measurement techniques.” – Jed Meyer, SVP, Media Solutions Leader, North America, Kantar

“The ability to measure performance is closely linked to the ability to identify users. The biggest challenge facing effective measurement is the lack of standardization when it comes to identification mechanisms. So far, we have been relying on different methods in different channels – cookies on the web, MAIDs on mobile devices, and mostly IP addresses on CTV. The deprecation of legacy identification mechanisms is a big opportunity to start over and choose a common identification currency that can be used across environments. As usual, the transition from theory to practice is more complex and lengthy as it requires an entire industry to converge around a single method. Nevertheless, this is the direction that we should take if we truly want to solve the measurement challenge.” – Mathieu Roche, Co-Founder and CEO, ID5

“We’re at an interesting moment as the industry recognizes the need to address the systems of old in a modern omnichannel ecosystem. There has been innovation in the measurement space – from the rise of alternative video currencies, to how we’re exploring the potential use of attention, to how we think about performance and incrementality. The lag falls on how we can confidently identify and rally around the right approach to enable decision making and ultimately business outcomes. Since measurement requires rigor and a level of standardization and adoption, we need to balance the pace of infusing new thinking with ensuring reliability.” – Neala Brown, SVP, Strategy and Insights, Teads

“I think there are two different challenges on attention measurement. The first one is a technological challenge: how to identify attention. After evaluating different criteria on which technologically identifiable signals (presence, face-recognition, eye gaze, heart rate, etc.) we should use, I would say this challenge is resolved across LATAM. The other challenge is on metrics: how we should translate attention into value. That challenge has yet to be settled. While the progress is indisputable, I don’t think we have reached an industry-wide benchmark on a valid cross-media metric to compare the value of attention.” – Julian Sosa Collado, Digital Media & Commerce Manager of Personal Care, Chile & Argentina, at Unilever

“There is still an ‘us vs. them’ mentality that impedes collaboration and progress.” – David Cohen, IAB

“Measurement has been a continuous source of evolution, innovation, and debate in our industry since its inception. The most recent debates involve measurement and currency which are sometimes used interchangeably. It can be said that all currency is measurement, but not all measurement is currency. Regardless of taxonomy, both are undergoing rapid evolution.

“One of our greatest challenges in this area is that the pursuit of proprietary advantage often supersedes the best interests of the industry. This inhibits progress. Although significant advancements in measurement have been made, there is still an ‘us vs. them’ mentality that impedes collaboration and progress.

“At IAB, we are optimistic about recent developments in the measurement space and will continue to advocate for industry standards, transparency, interoperability, and collaboration across the ecosystem. Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress, once stated, ‘You don’t make progress by sitting on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.’ As a collective community, that is precisely what we are doing. Although advancements may sometimes be slow, we are at a critical inflection point for the industry and we are steadily advancing with IAB members engaged and committed.” – David Cohen, CEO, IAB

“Measurement has been an eternal issue, but never has it been more important to develop tools to measure audiences that aggregate around content on multiple platforms. While achieving this goal has been a priority, I feel as though we are falling further behind rather than making advances.” – Steve Mandala, Chief Revenue & Local Media Officer, Estrella Media

“The state of measurement is currently in flux. Legacy metrics no longer meet the needs of Marketers today, who want to measure tangible outcomes. They want to take action on those outcomes, and they want it all to transpire in real time wherever and whenever possible.

“The media is working to address this scenario, but there’s a long road ahead. All major media networks owners (e.g. Disney, Paramount, NBCU, etc.) are signing on new measurement providers in response to Marketers’ needs which moves them into uncharted territory to package, price, and sell their inventory against multiple media currencies. Simultaneously, streamers like Netflix (amongst others) are signing up for measurement currencies. Both parties share the common goal of differentiating the value of their audiences and their views.” – Charel MacIntosh, Global Head of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships, Clinch

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“Advertisers will need time and investment to evolve their measurement stack past reach and sentiment – especially when those are the metrics their campaigns have been measured by since the 50s.” – Kevin Krim, CEO, EDO

“First and foremost, marketers should be skeptical of anyone claiming to have one metric to rule them all. Reach or Impact? Cost efficiency or Return on Spend? It’s an ‘AND’, not an ‘OR’. While eyeballs matter, so do outcomes. With that in mind, the real measurement challenge is being drowned out by the noise about alternative currencies. However, it is paramount to point out that real innovation is happening – as an enhancement to audience reach, which will remain an integral part of marketers’ measurement suite. The question is not if innovation will happen, it’s how – and which agencies and brands will reap the rewards of knowing what works. Additionally, marketers are having to prove their strategies are working faster and with absolute certainty. As economic uncertainty/budget constraints come at an all-time high, there’s less margin for error in 2023.”

“Major advertisers and networks have used the same measurement tools for 50+ years, and it’s only been recently that they’ve had a proliferation of alternative currency options to choose from. As they figure out what tools they want to use to complement their existing stack, progress is moving as fast as can be expected. However, streaming represents a huge disruption for the sector and there is no reason that our generation shouldn’t affect the same kind of disruption on the way that measurement is done.

“Advertisers will need time and investment to evolve their measurement stack past reach and sentiment – especially when those are the metrics their campaigns have been measured by since the 50s.” – Kevin Krim, CEO, EDO

“While Google’s delay has provided some temporary relief, marketers face significant measurement challenges with the impending sunsetting of third-party cookies. For CPG brands, retail media networks provide persistent and deterministic data that enables attribution within walled garden environments, but at higher costs and with less efficiency than other channels. However, other verticals may struggle to find similar solutions as the dearth of data and inability to reconcile it across systems for measurement purposes drives businesses to pivot to less direct response-focused goals and measure media using more traditional reach and frequency metrics, surveys, and other non-identity based solutions. While the industry has made progress, smaller brands without the scale to work with retail partners or to measure campaigns using other methods may face greater challenges in the future.” – Conrad Lisco, Chief Strategy Officer, Fyllo:

“With more privacy legislation and other factors like cookies/IP addresses going away, match rates based on identity alone are increasingly challenging. With content-based insights, advertisers gain a clearer understanding of their audience and their mindset. In order for measurement solutions to take advantage of these contextual insights, sellers can share content IDs as a common signal to enable video-level data to be measured alongside standard age and demographic metrics. With these capabilities, streaming TV moves closer to its promise of providing better viewing experiences and advertising outcomes.” – Field Garthwaite, CEO and Co-Founder, IRIS.TV

“Denial’ comes to mind in terms of how our industry is approaching measurement.” – Zach Moore, Basis Technologies

“‘Denial’ comes to mind in terms of how our industry is approaching measurement, probably followed by some misplaced optimism that Google will once again push back Chrome’s cookie deprecation. We see many brands and agencies attempting to squeeze the last drops of utility from their cookie-based attribution providers and their DMPs while they still can, likely riding out contracts and commitments. We’ve seen much more willingness to adopt alternative methods of frequency capping and targeting versus completely upending measurement plans.

“A focus at our company is getting clients comfortable with supplementing their ‘previous’ digital measurement plans with more modeling based analytical approaches, to help fill in measurement blind spots. Some clients are embracing ‘old school’ approaches like media mix modeling again, and survey or panel-based measurement.

“Progress can be hard to measure, because it feels like most marketers are taking multiple paths, all at once. I don’t think there will be a finish line in which to measure progress. This sort of fragmentation may continue indefinitely in the current landscape.” – Zach Moore, SVP of Digital Media Operations, Basis Technologies

“Viewers are increasingly becoming fragmented across platforms and devices, making cross-platform measurement of deduplicated audiences difficult, but very important. This is essential when total and/or incremental reach is a key performance metric to track across television, streaming, and digital media consumption. Implementing committees and task forces on both the buy and sell side is a step in the right direction. This will allow industry-wide challenges to be addressed, and for solutions to be considered and standardized.” – Dennis Cook, SVP, Ad Sales Marketing & Solutions, Nextstar Media Group

“At AppsFlyer, our philosophy is that the industry must prioritize data privacy, collaborate on advanced tech solutions, and make sure that tech stacks are interoperable and standardized across the ecosystem as much as possible, especially when it comes to cross-platform measurement solutions. The more hoops that marketers have to jump through, the less likely the industry will foster change, and instead be stuck in doing ‘what’s easy’ rather than moving towards better data management and privacy compliant use of first party data. Privacy tech has been the biggest priority shift over the last three years.

“The industry, driven by Big Tech: Apple, Google and Mozilla Firefox, has moved to protect consumer data and deprecate third-party cookies. Marketers have begun adopting new privacy enhancing technologies like data clean rooms, and changes to mobile app tracking priorities, that enable secure and private data collaboration. This is the foundation to accelerate change and address the challenges to make measurement effective and productive.

“Creating this new measurement framework has been a fast-moving goal so far in 2023. As we dive deeper into this privacy-driven landscape – led by Apple’s ATT and Google’s upcoming depreciation of cookies & Privacy Sandbox initiative – having this foundation in place will help teams push through the economic uncertainties.” – Edik Mitelman, SVP & General Manager, Privacy Cloud, AppsFlyer

Cynopsis Team