Similar TV/Online Metrics: YuMe's Internet GRP Key To Ad Buying

by David Goetzl , April 6, 2009

Consumer hunger for online video soars and advertisers are eager to shift spending to follow the viewers. But how to compare the relative value of buying traditional 30-second spots on NBC with 15-second pre-roll ads on, say, Hulu?

MindShare has inked a deal with online video ad network YuMe to deploy what is tabbed an Internet Gross Rating Point, or iGRP, which allows for an apples-to-apples comparison between the new metric and the traditional GRPs used for TV.

YuMe said determining an iGRP will "ideally" take into account more than reach and frequency. It includes the benefits of an online video ad, such as interactivity and heightened targeting not found on TV.

YuMe also said it would collaborate with MindShare in R&D to determine the run of "variables" that ultimately could be factored into an iGRP calculation. That may include format of the video ad, its duration and the content type.

"Working with YuMe to develop an online audience measurement metric that more closely matches the same metric we use in buying television is critical to compare, contrast and analyze online video," said Bethany Mach, a senior vice president at MindShare. "We need a standard approach we can all apply to measure audience and reach across any screen."

Northern California-based YuMe, backed by private-equity investors, said it would calculate iGRPs on a monthly basis for its ad networks for now. It would also "make (an iGRP) comparable to a television GRP by using total population and/or household numbers."

Jayant Kadambi, president of YuMe, said: "We've taken an important step in beginning to understand online ratings measurements by introducing an online video GRP metric that we hope the industry will standardize around."

YuMe says it serves video ads on 500+ sites that lead to an aggregate of more than 500 million streams a month.

An iGRP could allow for comparing value in online and on-air ads, as well as how to engineer campaigns that employ both platforms.

ad buys, media measurement, video

3 comments about "Similar TV/Online Metrics: YuMe's Internet GRP Key To Ad Buying".

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John Grono from GAP Research, April 7, 2009 at 10:34 a.m.
There is an important but subtle difference that needs to be taken into account here before these metrics can be said to be comparable - and comparibility is the goal we are all striving for.
The television GRP is a people-based measure. The iGRP is a machine-centric cookie-based measure. Are we as an industry happy comparing people to cookies?
Reply

Robyn Brooking from BMC, April 7, 2009 at 2:16 p.m.

It's a challenge to line internet options up against 'traditional' media options when it comes to reach and frequency. And an iGRP sounds like a miracle solution.
But, the mathematical premise of a Rating Point is that it is a "% of a measured population". Am anxious to learn how a website will count it's universe of potential users in order to calculate R/F. When it comes to the worldwide web - isn't it the world ? !

John Grono from GAP Research, April 7, 2009 at 5:34 p.m.

Robyn. A rating point is simply the percentage of the population - no magic in it. So for the Internet the population is "the world". Now that is useful to brands that market globally. The challenge then becomes (i) do we calculate ratings and R&F based on global estimates or (ii) do we "filter" the traffic geographically to produce "local market" ratings and R&F. If we do the sensible thing and filter "locally" ... what is "local". The most common way is to use the geo-code in the IP address. And while we're filtering it - let's take out the "non-human" traffic (bots, crawlers, spiders etc).

I hope that helps Robyn.