Commentary

MRC Releases Location-Based Measurement Guidelines For Public Comment

The Media Rating Council (MRC) has been on the forefront of generating measurement standards and guidelines. Recently, it released a draft of its Location-Based Measurement Guidelines for public comment. The MRC developed the guidelines in conjunction with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).

The document offers guidelines for measuring digital, location-based advertising including device attribution and user location for ad exposure and physical visitation.

The goals of the guidelines, according to the MRC, are to:  

--Provide for a consistent set of definitions for key elements of location-based measurement.

--Recommend minimum disclosures which should be provided to measurement data users.

--Provide a clear statement of recommended research operating practices and quality and describe minimum requirements, along with best practices.

--Encourage experimentation and advances to improve audience research quality.

The guidelines cover the methods used for measurement of digital location-based advertising including establishing the appropriate universe information for projection of measurements; creating location with appropriate quality and granularity; establishing place and visitation with appropriate quality and granularity; providing guidance and references for the potential use of data sources; attributing or measuring location through such methods as panels, or a combination of methods with sufficient quality and granularity; and more.

The MRC said the document should be considered in conjunction with the IAB’s Mobile Location Data Guide for Publishers, published in February 2016, as well as the MMA’s Demystifying Location Data Accuracy whitepaper, published October 2015, which describe general principles, measurement frameworks, and definitions for using location data for mobile and cross-platform advertising.

The MRC studied these documents while completing these measurement guidelines. The guidelines also include a glossary of terms like “accuracy” and more. For example, “accuracy” is defined as “the ability or degree to which a measurement can ascertain the actual location of a device or user and/or place and visitation correctly (the difference between measured and true location or place)."

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