MRC May Deprecate The Click As An Ad Metric, Part Of Shift To Outcome-Based Measurement

MALAGA, SPAIN -- The industry may put another nail -- possibly a final one -- in the coffin of the click as a digital advertising metric.

As part of its plans to develop new, higher-order outcome-based measurement standards, the Media Rating Council (MRC) has been having discussions with major industry stakeholders at the I-COM Data Summit here that it’s thinking of letting the click founder as it shifts its focus to more meaningful “engagement metrics.”

“The click is pretty dubious,” MRC CEO and Executive Director George Ivie told MediaPost, confirming that the council is “thinking about” deprecating the click altogether.

While it’s unlikely the MRC would actually void it as an ad metric altogether, Ivie said clicks likely would simply become irrelevant as the industry shifts its focus on better metrics.

Either way, Ivie said the MRC is overdue to update its click metric standards, and that it’s possible it will just let them grow dormant rather than giving them new meaning.

1 comment about "MRC May Deprecate The Click As An Ad Metric, Part Of Shift To Outcome-Based Measurement".
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  1. Nicholas Schiavone from Nicholas P. Schiavone, LLC, May 17, 2019 at 4 p.m.

    Kudos to Joe Mandese & MediaPost for getting a scoop from Spain that impacts digital advertising worldwide -- Mandese writes:  "The industry may put another nail -- possibly a final one -- in the coffin of the click as a digital advertising metric."  Essentially, the MRC (Media Rating Council) may be about to do something that ought to have been done a long time ago...DEPRECATE and DEPRECIATE the "Click" for the false and useless audience measurement metric that it has always been.

    “The click is pretty dubious,”MRC CEO and Executive Director George Ivie told MediaPost, confirming that the Council is “thinking about” deprecating the click altogether." 

    As part of the MRC's plans to develop new, higher-order outcome-based measurement standards, CEO Ivie reportedly had discussions with major industry stakeholders at the I-COM Data Summit.  One strategy under consideration is letting the click founder as the MRC shifts its focus to more meaningful “engagement metrics.”

    Executive Director Ivie's persistence in pursuing electronic media research that is simultaneously accurate, reliable and useful research is laudable.  For even as we deprecate the value, if any, of the "click" as audience measurement, the industry ought to appreciate the hard work of cultivating research quality in 2019.

    As we say "Adiós" to the "Click," let us express our deprecation accordingly:

    DEPRECATE (verb transitive)
    Definition:
    1) to express disapproval of.

    2) to withdraw official support for or discourage the use of something,
    (such as electronic media audience metrics) in favor of a newer or better alternative.

    Synonyms...
    Formal:
    disapprove of, deplore, abhor, find unacceptable, be against, frown on, take a dim view of,
    look askance at, take exception to, detest, despise, execrate; criticize, censure, condemn, denounce, protest against, inveigh against, rail against;

    Informal:
    knock, slam, hammer, cane, blast, bad-mouth, pull to pieces, pull apart, hit out at;

    Informal:
    slate, slag off, rubbish;

    Archaic:
    slash, vituperate against, reprobate; 

    Rare:
    animadvert on, asperse, derogate

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