AdGenesis: Actually Measuring Digital Video "Viewership" - Rick Sirvaitis

By Media Biz Bloggers Archives
Cover image for  article: AdGenesis: Actually Measuring Digital Video "Viewership" - Rick Sirvaitis

Having bought and sold every side of television over the course of my career it is always interesting when the subject of video metrics come into play as they have over the past week as it relates to digital video -- a discussion that is very much needed.

Looking at the original video platform of TV, the most recent Super bowl was touted in the press as the most viewed television event ever – but I have to ask -- was it really? We as an industry continue to confuse viewing with tuning. Most television video measurement today focuses primarily on tuning. In the digital space, user initiated and auto initiated are the two emerging measures. There is absolutely no assurance that whoever was in the room (or near the distribution vehicle) at the time the particular message was played actually viewed – much less paid attention to the message.

Television has long been sold on a traditional cost per thousand basis using an opportunity to view as an impression. As newer methods of delivering video online to consumers come to market we seem to want the new measurement that might become available but at the same time apply old models – i.e. the old impression based cpm models.

The move to payment on a cost per view metric is one that will benefit the entire industry provided we have some real understanding that actually viewership took place. There is an inherent consumer dislike for commercials of any type. Commercial avoidance is commonplace in every medium and statistics support this contention. DVR's have provided the single best tool for commercial skipping. Online video offers a better method of measurement and assurance of actual viewing.

The tools exist today via companies like AdGenesis to actually verify viewing through excellent patents for video on web, mobile or TV. Let's not just use them because they are new – let's do it because they work in a manner that will improve our client's measure of effectiveness.

None of this discussion is new – more than a year ago David Cohen wrote in MediaBizBloggers:

"After 15 years in the digital media business I can safely say that our industry is overly complicated. In order for us to truly scale our business it is critical that we make it easier to plan, buy and steward digital campaigns." David went on to suggest a solution: "Only paying for the amount of time that an ad is viewed, and obviously not paying for ads that are not viewed at all … will be far more accurate representation of true ad delivery."

The facts support the assertion that those consumers who actually seek out entertainment and information in video form are valuable to marketers. The fact that those consumers can be verified as engaged viewers makes them even more valuable to marketers. As we move from advertising by intrusion to advertising by invitation the opportunities are there now to reach a marketers' target audience via online video and verify both the viewing of the message and the engagement of the viewer – isn't that what real targeting is all about?

Rick Sirvaitis a 38-year media veteran has run his own media and marketing consultancy, RS Media Marketing LLC for the past five years. He has been a consultant to such clients as the NFL Network, Enversa, Gemstar/TV Guide, and Google TV Ads among others and is retained as an Entrepreneur in Residence for Constellation Growth Capital. Rick can be reached at rick@rsmediamarketing.com

Read all Rick's MediaBizBloggers commentaries at AdGenesis.

Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggers.com
Follow our Twitter updates @MediaBizBlogger

MediaBizBloggers is an open-thought leadership blog platform for media, marketing and advertising professionals, companies and organizations. To contribute, contact Jack@mediadvisorygroup.com. The opinions expressed in MediaBizBloggers.com are not those of Media Advisory Group, its employees or other MediaBizBloggers.com contributors. Media Advisory Group accepts no responsibility for the views of MediaBizBloggers authors.

Copyright ©2024 MediaVillage, Inc. All rights reserved. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.