• by Karlene Lukovitz , May 27, 2016

The past week saw two developments that, while not directly connected, speak to two critical audience-buying issues that are decidedly intertwined: audience fragmentation, and measurement capabilities.

To no one’s surprise, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) filed comments formally opposing the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal aimed at expanding third parties’ ability to compete with cable and satellite providers’ set-top boxes.

While stressing that it is “technology-neutral,” the ANA contends that the proposed rules will disrupt fair advertising marketplace practices, and thus the revenue that enables creating content for consumer consumption.

Meanwhile, MediaPost editor in chief Joe Mandese reported that agencies are testing a self-serve platform from supply-side player AudienceXpress. The platform is designed to enable agencies to build TV audience reach based on their campaign objectives, while maintaining major TV inventory providers’ control over supply, pricing and timing.

If rolled out, the platform would represent another advancement in AudienceXpress’ goal of enabling seamless, efficient automated buying of fragmented local TV inventory controlled by various cable, satellite and broadcast players.

What’s the connection? On one front, we have a major, Comcast-owned company pushing to overcome the buying challenges posed by audience fragmentation. On the other, we have a government proposal that (putting aside the important arguments about whether or not it will ultimately benefit consumers) could result in even more audience fragmentation, at least in the short term.

And if typical dynamics prevail, it seems a logical assumption that greater fragmentation would likely exacerbate the challenges posed by the lack of standardized cross-platform measurement solutions.

“Everything ultimately gets tied to our ability or inability to measure effectively — to establish what it is that we need every element in the media mix to accomplish, and prove whether it’s effective or not,” stressed Bryan Noguchi, SVP, media director, R2C Group, during a recent OMMA Programmatic conference panel.

But buyers’ ability to measure across many of the emerging platforms and devices is already “really tough,” he said. “And I think that if the FCC succeeds in ‘privatizing’ set-top boxes, it will make the measurement landscape even harder. Because then we’ll have dozens of manufacturers [making their own boxes] — all of them collecting data in their own way.

“As a consumer, I think the [FCC’s] intent is pretty good,” Noguchi continued. “But as an advertiser, now I have to cobble together data from 70 different sources, and that’s a pain.” In a tongue-in-cheek observation, he added that, on the other hand, if the new environment allowed for using cookies in a way that marketers could “get some real intelligence back,” that “might be exciting.”

Of course, as one platform supplier commented recently to Audience Buying Insider, with the FCC proposal still in the comment period, speculation about its specifics is somewhat premature.

In fact, some analysts say that it could well take two to three years before a new set of rules is finalized.