An Epistle from the Heathens

For those not fully up to speed with this issue this post is here to provide a cynical and I suppose I should make clear not a literally accurate point of viewFor a far more sensible extensive balanced evaluation of whatamp8217s going on read this from the guys at asiIf you think the current situation warrants a wry smile carry onThe provider of the prime measurement service to the US broadcast industry is Nielsen I believe itamp8217s been Nielsen since before the invention of the television Some say Nielsen was standing there and someone invented TV around it Itamp8217s always been Nielsen I think it must be the lawAlthough Nielsen has the wherewithal to report otherwise the US industry talks almost only of programamp160ratings Noone directly references the audience to commercials These are nasty interruptive things NITs that get in the way of the art that fills American airwaves Inconveniently these NITs pay for everything and so their presence has to be acknowledged albeit with the sort of sneer a certain class of Brit reserves for the word quottradequotBroadcast television is the only thing that works for US advertisers This has been true since the dawn of time Anyone who thinks otherwise is deludedThat said there is concern around the rise of strange organizations like Google Facebook and TikTok These things are evil and fraudulent the work of the devil and no advertiser in their right mind would ever spend any money with them actually that bit isnamp8217t quite so crazyAdvertisers want big audiences On TV The bigger the better as long as theyamp8217re on TV If youamp8217re an advertiser and believe you may want something else targeted messages say youamp8217ve been attending too many conferences and your brain has become warped This is a curable condition Just pop along to your nearest Upfront and youamp8217ll feel better soonAgencies want what advertisers want and do what advertisers do If they depart from this way of thinking theyamp8217re wrong and will soon find out why via a reviewThe US view is that the rest of the world knows nothing about advertising media audience measurement or indeed research in general The rest of the world is mistakenThe US media industry can appropriate descriptors for its organizations regardless of those descriptors meaning something else somewhere everywhere else a precedent was set with the World Series When the US broadcast industry calls something a Joint Industry Committee or JIC then that is what it is Established bodies in overseas aka less sophisticated markets like the UKamp8217s BARB which for many decades has thought itself to be a JIC needs to reconsider It is clearly no such thingThe US media industry is focused 1000 on providing value to advertisers Value is defined by big numbers like 1000 If you believe that there is value to be had in concepts like contextual relevance or attention paid to whatamp8217s on the screen or to understanding audience behaviors youamp8217re misguided Or a socialist Probably bothBuyers buy big numbers Editorial context doesnamp8217t matter Nor does behavior Nor do endbusinessresults These things overcomplicate amp160they get in the way of delivering the big numbers by making the big numbers smaller And thatamp8217s a bad thing see aboveEvery now and again the US media industry starts a new body to demonstrate commitment to accuracyamp160and innovation Their representatives are sent out into the world like missionariesamp160to convert the heathensThe heathens aside from the odd cynical blogger are unfailingly polite to the missionaries They nod a lot And they donamp8217t change a thing The heathens know betterSometimes thereamp8217s talk of alternative currencies New methods are talked about Advertisers express concern using words like quottransparencyquotamp160and quotverifiablequotamp160Agencies consider Everyone knows you canamp8217t have more than one true currency whatever happens around the margins The currency continuesUS multinationalsamp8217 marketing and media directors are brilliant speakers with massive budgets They are as a result listened to and their thoughts largely ignored Indeed by their actions or lack thereof they eventually ignore themselvesLife goes merrily along Buyers buy and sellers sell Programs get made detergent gets soldUntil one day it doesnamp8217tClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

An Epistle from the Heathens

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Brian Jacobs

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

An Epistle from the Heathens

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Brian Jacobs

Stay in the know with more from MediaVillage

TAGS:

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

Cookies