• by Tony Jarvis , Op-Ed Contributor, February 18, 2022

Day 2 of the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) summit continued with industry leaders expounding on “converged TV measurement and data,” but the focus shifted to the need for currency equivalences and how they might impact planning, buying, and selling across TV platforms and devices.

It was even more evident that the industry is moving toward multiple currencies from a wide array of measurement and metrics vendors in 2022 and certainly beyond.  

This was the conclusion of Warner Media Lead-Ad Sales and Client Partnerships Katrina Cukaj and Omnicom Media Group Managing Director of Advanced TV Activation Kelly Metz.  

However, the difference in the value of viewable impressions -- a content-rendered measure without a direct person’s dimension typically used for digital/streamed media -- and audience ratings as reported by Nielsen for linear TV was left as an elephant sitting in the room.  

The need for a standard industry currency converter will surely become critical in a multi-measured currency TV world with the further complication of further different currency bases for other media.  

Both Cukaj and Metz emphasized the inability of the current Nielsen panel to measure across all TV platforms across all devices and the importance of transparency and neutral independent accreditation as provided by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for any measurement initiative.  

They acknowledged that Nielsen’s new cross-media measurement platform, “ONE,” is attempting to address consumers ever evolving viewing habits and will provide audience-based reach and frequency metrics across linear programming, streaming, connected TV (CTV), and digital channels, but valid reach estimates have never been more important in an advertising world awash in campaigns with too-high frequency counts.  

In this potential mishmash of currencies, would a joint industry committee (JIC) for TV be the solution to providing the industry a meaningful, acceptable single currency across the entire TV viewing universe?  Not for either this buyer or seller.  

The industry is at a tipping point. Both NBCU and Warner Media are heavily exploring different measurement and metric options with leading research and data tech companies.  Warner Media has iSpot, VideoAmp and Comscore on its short list.  

What the basis of guarantees will be for TV buys made by agencies is still moot. With video-on-demand and streaming building program audiences and brand opportunities over extended time periods, shows that may not have made it based on conventional overnight ratings may have long lives complicating the trading exchange.  

Metz did outline that OMG would work with network and content providers as partners to achieve agreed guarantees based on constant testing and potentially using different measurement techniques and metrics with each media partner.  

It’s going to be a long tough ride and CIMM has its work cut out to continue its support the TV measurement revolution.  JIC or not, it will require a great deal of collaboration.  This was underlined by OpenAP CEO David Levy.  

Levy believes the overall ad future is in marketing mix and attribution models based on including sophisticated data via clean rooms. He also concurred that there will be different currencies focused on billing guarantees along with other measurement and metrics providing insights platform by platform across the campaign.  

These measurement, data and technical issues are extensive and “hairy.”  It will be vital to understand the quality of measurement, the validity of the elements measured, the basis of the universe, exactly what metrics are reported. “Impressions” without an explicit definition are not acceptable.

In her panel on ID resolution Sequent Partners’ Alice Sylvester asked, “Is this high science or high art?”  As there are no “truth sets” perhaps she should have asked, “Are we doing very precise things with very imprecise data?”  

On a final note, Jane Clarke, CIMM, Managing Director for the last 12 years, is retiring.  She should be incredibly proud of the insights CIMM has brought the industry in preparation for its next level of TV measurement and metrics.  Enjoy your next chapter.  The industry is indebted to you.