George Musi, EVP of Marketing Sciences for Publicis OneTeam – Citi, and  a featured speaker at the Cynopsis Measurement & Data Conference , offers a preview of the insights on filling the gaps in media measurement that will be explored at the June 11 event.

Cynopsis: What are the top two issues facing media execs when it comes to agreeing on a consistent metric across platforms?

George Musi: The top two issues facing media execs when it comes to agreeing on a standardized metric or currency for buying/selling ads across (TV and digital) platforms are:

1. No standardized method for combining cross-channel metrics
   1. There are several methodologies: persons-based, household-based and device-based solutions
   2. There is no way to obtain a total view of the audience
2. Inconsistent units of measurement and currency across media platforms
   1. TV and digital video ad measurement has been bifurcated for some time — exposure is defined differently on each platform, and even within each platform: 
   2. TV: average second, average minute, average quarter hour
   3. Digital media: impressions or clicks
   4. Digital Video: views or streams

Cynopsis: What do you see as the most important metric in measuring cross-platform exposure and effectiveness? 

Musi: As media consumption changes and advertisers increasingly run integrated campaigns across different platforms and devices, it’s become more important to measure accurately and consistently across different media. Reach and frequency (R/F) have always been among the most fundamental metrics in planning, buying and evaluating campaigns. Understanding how many people saw an ad and how many times they saw it is critical for advertisers seeking to influence consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. The most critical (urgent) need is to reliability estimate net (unduplicated) reach and audience exclusivity and duplication (frequency) of audiences across platforms.

Cynopsis: What gaps need to be filled in order to plan or buy on those metrics? 

Musi: The development of a unified, standardized and agreed upon measurement approach (by a 3^rd-party measurement provider) that includes fundamental measures of net reach and frequency across platforms – something that does not exist today. The challenges that need to be overcome include:

1. Inertia – resistance to changes in currency while outcomes and benefits remain unclear
2. Impact on resources, cost of doing business and changes in process and systems
3. The debate over what a new ad impression standard should represent – just exposure or impact on a business outcome
4. The question of whether true ad duration can be measured and should the quality of exposure be the same for each platform
5. How will this impact proprietary measures which many want to preserve
6. The word currency may be too rigid for some who believe that different media require different measures
7. The adoption of co-viewing impression— whether more than one person was in the room to see an ad on a single screen