Senior marketers have urged the industry to harmonise measurement of video advertising across platforms and devices at the IAB’s Video Summit. Although unlikely to happen in the near future, they welcome Netflix joining OzTAM’s VOZ as a positive step forward. Most buyers agree, but one has warned that trying to harmonise measurement could become a race to the bottom.
Not all ad impressions are equal. It’s an old adage in the industry but one that has become increasingly difficult to qualify, which is why media planners and buyers are a valuable strategic advisor to stretched marketing teams.
At this week’s IAB Video Summit, senior marketers from Nivea, Optus, Domain and Camilla all noted that sorting out measurement is near the top of their wish list.
“It would be great to have parity, those universal metrics, because it’s a little bit of a minefield out there when it comes to metrics,” said Lauren Dawber, the head of media and operations at Optus, which has recently appointed Accenture Song to handle their media duties.
“We’re measuring some things on two seconds, one second, five seconds or completion of a 15 second ad. And I think that’s hard for media buyers and planners. You’ve got to read the little asterisk down the bottom that says, ‘This is measured on two seconds’, and it’s really hard for marketers as well.
Dawber paid tribute to Netflix joining OzTAM’s total TV measurement currency VOZ.
“I think it’s a great statement of having that parity and that equality when it comes to video metrics. I know that’s what I’m looking for.
“I don’t want something that is not externally kind of validated, we don’t want (platforms) marking their own homework. We need measurement that we can talk about confidently… a universal metric across what is a very complex and fragmented industry and set of channels.”
Kate Hesleym the GM of marketing, ecommerce and digital at Nivea, also wants to see improvements in measurement, but across the funnel.
“We have our traditional metrics or our framework metrics that we’re going to measure every single day, whether it’s reach or sales or ROI, on top of the brand metrics that we will be looking at in terms of record intent, etc. But for me, what compliments that very well is CMM so commercial mix modeling.
“We’ve done that for over five years now, and there’s a really good bank of data, she said. “It’s not just about analysing what we’ve done and having those very, very good conversations that you can then take to the C-suite to have an evidence based approach to what you’re doing in marketing. For me, the magic really comes alive when you use that data to do predictive modelling.”
‘It’s further away than you think’
Media planners and buyers broadly agree with the concept of harmonising measurement although it may not be a panacea to finding the right answer to every performance question.
Zenith Sydney head of investment Thomas Macerola laid out his concerns on a media agency panel at the IAB’s Video Summit.
“My worry is that once we do have a unified system, that all video starts being measured on one metric, it may not be relevant for that format. So I’ll take an example; with linear TV, most people are buying and optimising to a one-plus reach. Is that frequency and the ability to buy only one-plus in a digital world the right way to maximise the outcomes from a market mix modeling perspective? Should you be buying a high frequency level or should you be buying a different way of reach or a different measure completely?
Macerola explained that if there is a unified cross measurement platform across all if the different video channels, the media metrics might look good, but this might not translate to commercial results because channels that historically have been strong could start to drop off.
In essence, he said that finding a single source of truth might dilute what media planners know to be effective today, and that comparing a TV ad to a Instagram reel is not simple or binary.
“My key message is once we do have (universal measurement), don’t follow it blindly. Still make sure that we’re planning the right levels of rac, frequency and use the right metrics for the individual channel,” he said. “Social is going to be different from BVOD, which will be different from SVOD and television.”
This is a message that TV companies have long argued. Although publicly they would like to see harmonised measurement framework, privately they don’t want TV ads to be measured in the same light as a skippable YouTube ad, for instance, because they believe it dilutes the value of TV advertising.
Joseph Tague, a director of media strategy and planning at Monks, said that more work needs to be done around measurement definitions before a universal measurement can take place.
A Liverpudlian who recently moved to Australia, Tague laid out his biggest bugbear of the Aussie media industry.
“It’s fragmentation and silos. I think all of the media owners, do a good job of sequential storytelling within their own platforms…but people aren’t going to watch 30 seconds of your ad, no matter how much a creative team tries to push it. You’ve got to grab that attention in two to three seconds. So how do you tell that story across multiple touch points,” he said.
“In an ideal world, you can do that across different platforms, but I think we are a lot further away from cross platform measurements than people think.
“These big media owners are in their own race to the top to take it all. They’re not going to play nice on the way there.”
