How To Plan Media with Quality Metrics, For Beginners

For decades media plans have been shaped around a familiar set of business questions grounded in accumulated history and buyerseller expectationsWhat business objective are we trying to achieveWho is the target audienceHow many people do we need to reachHow often should we reach themWhich media channels can deliver the target audienceWhat will it costWhen should we advertiseHow will we measure successThose questions still matter They remain foundational to how media gets planned bought and evaluated But in todayamp8217s environment they are no longer enough on their ownMedia is now highly fragmented making reach and impact harder to dissect and forecast Advertisers can reach the same audience across thousands of ad placements media sources and devices and the business value of all those touchpoints can vary dramatically even within a single channel or publisherThat variability creates a challenge that reach targeting and cost metrics werenamp8217t designed to solve Without a way to evaluate the quality of each exposure planners must evaluate impressions that may drive very different outcomes as if they are interchangeableBringing media quality metrics into the planning process as a strategic variable allows media planning to evolve from focusing on distribution efficiency to focusing on outcome efficiency how each dollar contributes to business resultsHow Media Quality Changes Traditional Media PlanningMedia quality does not replace traditional planning fundamentals it adds a muchneeded layer of precisionHereamp8217s how each dimension of traditional media planning evolves when media quality metrics are layered inamp160Planning Dimensionamp160Traditional Media Planning Practiceamp160amp160Quality GapQualityEnhanced Media Planning PracticeBusiness ObjectivesPlans spell out brand or sales goals then set media budgets based on scale delivery and cost efficiencyGoals aren39t tied to media quality thresholds required to achieve specific outcomesConnect media budgets to business outcomes with media quality thresholds aligned to each objective eg an incremental sales KPI may require a higher quality threshold than a brand familiarity lift KPITarget AudiencePlans define who the advertiser needs to reach and how large that audience opportunity isThe right audience reached through lowerquality media may not deliver the desired responseEvaluate audience and media quality independently both are necessary for success eg Women 25amp821154 may be the target but response and outcomes can vary significantly across low and highquality placementsReachReach is used as a baseline for expected campaign impactRaw reach can overstate value when impressions occur in lowquality media environmentsQualityweight reach to identify how many impressions are likely to register and contribute to outcomes eg 10M raw impressions may translate to 4M highquality impressions depending on inventory mixFrequencyPlans set frequency goals and track delivery against exposure targetsRepeated lowquality impressions can inflate frequency while wasting budgetCalibrate frequency based on impression value not just volume eg three highquality exposures may be more valuable than eight lowquality onesChannel PlanningChannels are assigned broad strategic roles based on target audience fit objectives cost and historical performanceInventory quality can vary more within a channel than between channelsUse a shared quality metric grounded in predicted business value to compare inventory across channels eg topquartile CTV and display buys can be evaluated on the same quality scale despite very different CPMsBuying ampamp Cost EfficiencyMedia is bought on CPMs shaped by historical pricing yield management audience guarantees and business relationshipsLowcost media can become inefficient when quality is poorSet quality thresholds and evaluate qualityadjusted CPMs to buy on value not just volume eg a 4 CPM in lowquality inventory may cost more per outcome than an 8 CPM that meets a quality thresholdMeasurementReporting focuses on delivery cost efficiency and retrospective ROIInsights are backwardlooking and don39t necessarily help improve the next planUse quality metrics to inform future planning and scenario modeling eg forecast how shifting 10 of budget from lower to higherquality inventory could affect outcomes before the campaign runsTraditional media planning is about distribution getting the right message to the right audience at efficient scale and cost Qualityenhanced media planning is about investment performance ensuring media spend is directed toward exposures likely to create business valueMedia quality should be thought of as more than a postcampaign diagnostic it is a tool for making smarter planning decisions before campaigns go liveHow Media Planners Become Business DriversMedia planners have always been responsible for connecting brands with audiences but as media becomes more fragmented and performance expectations rise that responsibility is expanding and becoming ever more importantWhen media quality becomes a standard operational input planners can allocate budgets with greater precision improve efficiency without sacrificing impact sharpen forecasting and reduce wasted spend Media planning39s core function evolves from delivering audiences to driving business resultsThe audiencedelivery question still matters did we reach the people we needed to reach But the mediaimpact question now takes precedence did this investment actually move the businessUsing quality metrics media planners become a new kind of business driverA note on AU Adelaideamp8217s media quality metricAdelaide built AU for this reality AU is a media quality metric designed to score every ad placement across 19 media channels based on likelihood to capture attention and drive business outcomes AU gives advertisers and buyers a consistent and predictive signal to evaluate quality across channels compare inventory and bring media quality into the plan not just the postcampaign report Everything in this article applies to media quality broadly AU is Adelaideamp8217s solution to the mediaplanning challenges advertising faces todayPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick 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 MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

How To Plan Media with Quality Metrics, For Beginners

Author

Publish date

Channel

Claire Browne

Jeanniey Walden on Trust, AI, and the Human Edge - By Jack Myers

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

How To Plan Media with Quality Metrics, For Beginners

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Claire Browne

Stay in the know with more from MediaVillage

Jeanniey Walden on Trust, AI, and the Human Edge - By Jack Myers

The payment was successful

Cookies