Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement announced the launch of a new study with Janus Strategy and Insights and Sequent Partners exploring what drives the difference in attribution results from six national, linear television campaigns that aired in 2019. CIMM and the 4A’s will be working with Alphonso, Ampersand, Comscore, Hive, iSpot, Kantar, Nielsen, Samba, TVSquared, 605 and more.

Following the study, Janus Insights and Strategy and Sequent Partners will analyze the data to develop conclusions and recommendations from the results, reporting  what contributes to differences in the data that detect TV ad occurrences, how ad occurrences are currently missed or overcounted, how viewership estimates vary between the different “footprints” and technical limitations of both ACR and STB data, and how the differences impact model lift estimates and the decisions marketers will make.

“With the varying approaches to attribution, and therefore differing results, the industry is in need of independent guidance in this space,” said Alice Sylvester, partner, Sequent Partners. “By comparing two key components of television attribution – ad occurrences (schedules) and exposure data (ratings/delivery) – the CIMM and 4A’s experiment will not only uncover for advertisers, networks and agencies whether sources generally over or undercount occurrences and viewership, but we also hope to identify the extent to which these differences impact widely used attribution models that marketers depend on.”

“The importance of TV attribution to advertisers and media companies grows each day,” said Howard Shimmel, president, Janus Insights and Strategy. “With many attribution providers in market often using varied data sets, it is crucial to learn how the different data sets impact reported results. This study will cast light on this important issue and be the first step in developing a framework for industry standards in the future.”

Initial findings of the study will be announced at CIMM’s annual membership Summit on February 6.