Scott McDonald Reveals What to Expect at the Next ARF AUDIENCExSCIENCE Conference

I sat down with him to find out what we might expect to see and hear at the next annual ARF AUDIENCExSCIENCE event scheduled for April 1516 2019Progress in Cross Platform MeasurementThe overall theme of the conference will be the vectors of progress in crossplatform audience measurementamp160 According to McDonald the industry is quotmaking progress in coverage in integrating audience data from different streams and in automating content recognitionquotamp160 But he averred quotWe still need to build better consensus on the core metrics to use for reporting and tradingquotThe obstacles seem to be more political and economic than technical he notedamp160 quotThere is compelling evidence from the UK around how it is a costly mistake to underinvest in upperfunnel brand support and overinvest in lowerfunnel activation but it is rarely fatal if recognized and remediedquot he revealedThere have been milestones in these areas since last year39s conferenceamp160 quotThe MRC39s proposed durationweighted standard for crossplatform video measurement represents an important milestone in the longrunning effort to get consensus on the underlying metricquot McDonald saidamp160 quotThat standard will be hotly debated at this next AUDIENCExSCIENCE but I consider it a significant step forward to be having that debate now about a very specific proposalquotProgress in AttributionMcDonald sees some signs of progress in integrating digital attribution with market mix modeling approaches but quotthere is still a need for better inputs ad exposure data and greater transparency about underlying modelsquot he assertedamp160amp160He believes that quotwhen properly executed attribution efforts premised upon true randomized control tests have the strongest causal claimsquotamp160 However attribution models are still operating under very limited spheres that don39t apply across all elements of the media and marketing spectrum quotso they don39t have as much practical utility for many marketersquot he addedamp160amp160Plus they are often siloed only working within one complete endtoend platform resulting in limited scope and of potential conflict of interest he explainedamp160 quotSo when we go beyond these methodologically pure randomized control panel RCT exercises the most meaningful attribution studies are those that reflect a bit of modesty and humility about their own limitationsquotTime Table for MeasurementI asked McDonaldamp160how soon did he think it will take for us to get to an industry standard cross platform measurementamp160 quotTo some degree it will always be a work in progressquot he admittedamp160amp160quotSo I don39t think that we will ever be at a place where we can just go on autopilotquotamp160 But looking forward he saidamp160thatamp160quot5G will have all kinds of knockon effects on how we consume media and advertising and the whole field is so ripe with innovation that the goalpost will constantly be movingquotMcDonald believes that there has been a lot of progress so far through the efforts of individual companies and industry organizationsamp160 quotTo some extent we are on the threshold of a new era if the MRC standard survives the inevitable scrutiny and goes on to win the support of marketersquot he saidIn terms of actual metrics McDonald ranks the following as the most importantExposure metrics impressions reach frequencyAttention metrics duration cognitive measuresAffiliation metrics often reflected in social mediaMarket metrics sales pricing power brand equityquotLooking ahead to the next five years where do you see the media ecosystem in terms of measurement data analytics privacy and attributionquot I askedHis response was swiftamp160 quotFive years is an eternity in this businessquot he saidamp160 quotWe will be farther along amp160powered more by AI and 5G amp160but still with plenty of work to do solving the problems that will be frustrating us in 2023quotClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | REGISTER FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Scott McDonald Reveals What to Expect at the Next ARF AUDIENCExSCIENCE Conference

Author

Publish date

Channel

Charlene Weisler

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | REGISTER FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Scott McDonald Reveals What to Expect at the Next ARF AUDIENCExSCIENCE Conference

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Charlene Weisler

Cookies