ANA To Test Cross-Media Measurement System With VideoAmp
- by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, November 1, 2021
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has announced plans to test that a cross-media measurement system from advertising software/data company VideoAmp in the U.S.
The news is the latest development in a push by advertisers and media to broaden their measurement options amid the controversy over Nielsen’s undercounting of TV audiences during the pandemic’s height and its loss of MRC accreditation.
In late September, ViacomCBS struck a deal with VideoAmp to provide an “alternative currency.”
In August, NBCUniversal declared “measurement independence” and set about creating a Measurement Innovation Forum intended to supplement cross-platform measurement work by VAB, ANA and OpenAP. NBCU, which says it received 80 responses to an RFP sent to measurement companies, recently announced a roster of forum members including major agencies, advertisers and trade groups.
ANA is developing the pilot with VideoAmp as part of its own Cross-Media Measurement initiative.
The pilot will test various approaches to the use of Virtual ID (VID) for television, with the goal of identifying the most accurate model for ad-campaign reach and frequency metrics.
“Cross-platform reach and frequency measurement is a top priority for marketers, but the methodology employed must give fair credit to TV, walled-garden, and other digitally delivered ads,” Jonathan Steuer, executive vice president of TV strategy and currency, VideoAmp, told NextTV.
ANA described the initiative as “an important milestone” in the development of a cross-media measurement solution.
So if the system notes that a TV set was turned on and a commercial was on-screen for at least two seconds in one home while a smartphone was used by a member of another household while sitting in a dentist's waiting room when a commercial appeared on its screen for at least two seconds is the combined "reach" expressed as two devices with an average frequency of one? It can't be consumers as the system doesn't know who in first home was watching---or even if anyone was watching the TV commercial, nor it doesnt know if the smartphone user was even present when the ad message came on nor whether the ad was seen.
Frankly, this preoccupation with reach and frequency using flawed data mystefies me as this is primarily a planning, not a buying issue and media planners will tell their buyers how many GRPs are needed to attain the desired---albeit approximate---- reach level by using various mixes of "linear TV" / streaming/CTV buys. The buyers will simply adhere to those specs---they will not be calculating the incremental reach and frequency of each potential buy---relative to its costs---independently of the media plan.