Google Exec: Cross-Platform Metrics Needed To Optimize Media Buys

by David Goetzl , June 12, 2012

Jeffrey-Graham-A A Google ad research executive made a pitch Tuesday to use digital metrics as the jumping-off point to build a cross-measurement platform that includes TV and mobile usage.

“We need to build a completely different system that takes the power of digital and takes all media and makes it more effective … The biggest waste is we can’t optimize across media,” said Google’s Jeffrey Graham, director of advertising research for the Americas, at the Advertising Research Foundation conference.

The digital arena comes with loads of granular data, ranging from consumption to emotional feelings about brands and purchase intent with applications for other media, said Graham.

“We need to build on top of online data and build a single-source model,” he said -- which can provide insight into consumer behavior and help inform TV and other media buying.

Graham argued that the TV model of use ratings points, which offer an indication of impressions, is largely meaningless without a link to business results. (Some might argue that digital measurement fails there, too.)

“To treat the rating point as a stable measurement of value is like putting all your 401(k) in the drachma,” he said. That might be problematic, since a struggling Greece continues to use the euro. If it exits that arrangement, then the would-be mistake Graham alleges might be possible.

cross-platform, digital, media buying, metrics, tv

4 comments about "Google Exec: Cross-Platform Metrics Needed To Optimize Media Buys".

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Manish Bhatia from Arbitron, June 12, 2012 at 7:15 p.m.
Agree 100% with Jeff. Just because it is simple to understand, does not mean we should dumb down the Internet. The inherent power of the internet - addressability, interactivity, engagement - can't be captured in a TV metric.
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Armen Avedissian from Convertro, June 13, 2012 at 10:16 a.m.

We could not agree more with you Jeff, at Convertro (www.convertro.com) we have created a solution suite to exactly cater to these online and offline cross-platform needs for clients and agencies with consistent metrics for Television and Online; the following articles may be of interest:

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/convertro-introduces-on-demand-model-measure-performance-television-advertising-its-1634256.htm

http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/21/convertro-tv-ads/

http://www.adotas.com/2012/03/pinterest-drives-more-revenue-per-click-than-twitter-or-facebook-now-what/

Armen Avedissian from Convertro, June 13, 2012 at 10:28 a.m.

I am including one more article that may be of interest:

http://www.convertro.com/blog/television-spending-boosts-revenue-per-click-for-online-and-offline-marketing-channels-including-social-media-affiliates

Jeff Dickey from Omnichannel Marketing Project, June 13, 2012 at 12:38 p.m.

This is part of the equation but there are a lot more moving parts to it that have to be integrated to make it work. And, media is just one facet - it must be solved across the entire marketing mix. The good thing is that the pieces are falling into place.