Measurement Watch

On November 2amp160the audience measurement community or rather those bits of it concerned with video and audio media forms meets at the annual global asi Conference This is the world39s premier event on the subject having covered all manner of measurement changes over the last 30odd yearsThis year is different and not just because it39s virtual andamp160lasts five days instead of three with each daily session lasting just twoamp160hours It39s also free to quotattendquot amp160the organizers feel correctly that this is a critical time for audience measurement and thus the widest possible range of views should be soughtIt39s also different because we are witnessing a changing of focusAudience measurement has always been a rather arcane topic Yes of course it39s critical that BARB etc gets it as right as possible but quotrightquotamp160used toamp160and still does mean ensuring statistical and technical rigorDebates on smart meters might not be for everyone but thank goodness they39re for someoneThe changes coming follow on from the media world39s move away from an obsession with buying to a greater focus on planningPlanning involves thinking across media Buying means focusing quotwithin mediaquot Measurement has been quotwithin mediaquot Now it needs to stretch beyond its boundariesThis does not mean that to add something we have to lose something else that quotwithin mediaquot measurement somehow becomes less important It39s just that we need to add a planning layerSurely we can hold two ideas in our heads at the same timePlanning measures have always hit a funding barrier quotWithin mediaquot is straightforward the media vehicles pay to measure the audiences they deliverBut who pays for crossmedia The agencies have no money nor have they the focus or even the resources The media vendors will pay as long as they set the rules which immediately introduces biases and politics to the world of objective measurement That leaves the advertisersAdvertisers have never truly paid for audience measurement Yes back in the day in the UK ISBA or rather Procter ampamp Gamble Mars Unileveramp160and a very few others would participate in the debate But their argument was that they paid for the advertising anyway a validated audience measurement system was fundamental to their spending anything so the vendors and the agencies had to payIt39s interesting to speculate what would have happened had the vendors said no or that they would confine their measures to what they had to do in order to fulfil their programming requirementsamp160and not bother with anything to do with adsWould the PampampG39s have stopped spendingAnyway that39s all in the past and is speculation Remove the vendors if you were a broadcaster would you pay to measure Facebook39s audience forget the agencies and we are back with the advertisersOne thing audience measurement does not need is constant change Plans need to be built on a stable system a stable set of accepted principles Chopping and changing is badWhat39s needed is an advertiserfunded advertiserdriven systemIt may very well be that the advertisers can recoup their costs by charging all media forms covered by the system and the agencies for access but the media forms still have to cover their own quotwithin mediaquot research tooThere are two optionsOption one has the advertisers through their trade bodies driving towards a crossmedia measurement system via some form of subscription which will not guarantee stability or consistency over timeDelivering option one will be a great achievement but is at the mercy of whomever funds the work At the moment it looks suspiciously like Facebook and Google are carrying a large part of the burden on the basis that he who pays the piperamp8230Option two creates a funding mechanism amp160my preferred version is a levy on ad spend amp160that survives if only through apathy is neutral to any media form and is consistentISBA and the WFA are both participating in the debate at the asi event It should be fascinating even for nonresearchers who can pick the sessions they wish to attendBook now whilst there are still places availableDisclosure I help asi with their annual conference and will be chairing a session at the 2020 virtual eventClick 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

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Measurement Watch

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Brian Jacobs

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