In Advance Of Upfront, JIC Preps First Currency Audits, Deems VideoAmp Demos 'Transactable'

by Joe Mandese , December 19, 2024

In preparation for 2024-25 upfront advertising negotiations, the U.S. joint industry committee (JIC) this morning announced it is poised to begin its first audits of the three ad currency providers -- Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp -- it previously certified, as part of their two-year certification process.

Separately, it also announced that it has deemed VideoAmp's "personification" method of modeling the demographic composition of its household audience estimates "transaction-ready" for 2024-25 ad deals and guarantees.

While not a new certification, the JIC said it reviewed additional data provided by VideoAmp and determined its method -- which models a variety of data to ascribe the demographic composition of its estimates -- is stable enough to calculate personified cross-platform audience reach.

In a related move, the JIC has released an update of its "Currency Certification Guidelines for Transactability of National Cross-Platform Solutions," which includes guidelines for personified demographics.

The update can also be downloaded from its own web domain at www.usjointindustrycommittee.com, which includes a hub -- and video (see below) -- explaining its new streaming data service.

The JIC's web presence previously was hosted on TV industry-owned OpenAP.tv, which launched and has been the organizing body behind the U.S. JIC.

The JIC's membership currently includes all of the major media-buying agencies, as well as OpenAP owners Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. Notably missing from its membership still is the TV industry's other big player, Disney, as well as any direct advertisers or advertiser trade organizations.

The certified currency audits, meanwhile, will be conducted over the next two months, and will be conducted by a working group comprised of "data scientists from agency and publisher member organizations, as well as independent consultants with combined decades of buy-side experience," according to a JIC spokesperson.

"JIC certification is granted on a two year basis, and each certified measurement company is required to go through the JIC’s midterm Audit, which is intended to review and evaluate any changes to data that will enter the marketplace in the next upfront cycle for the upcoming broadcast season," she explained, adding: "The JIC’s audit follows a similar framework as the initial data evaluation and specifically analyzes the solutions on the basis of transactability as a national currency."

Specifically, the audit process includes:

RFI (request for information) section is meant to get additional context around the currency actuals including methodology, integrations, coverage and type of metrics that have been built for currency transactional purposes. Each of the measurement companies has been asked to provide updated information to capture changes since they submitted at the end of last year.
Supply evaluation section is meant to understand the ability to produce actuals across all reportable networks for Total Supply and Sports.
Data feed section is meant to understand the ability to generate reliable forecasts, evaluate consistency, and understand the coverage of currency actuals.

The audits also will include several "new dimensions, spanning additional questions regarding Diginets/OTA and more granular sports supply evaluation, among others," the spokesperson explained.

ad buys, alternate currencies, audience measurement, audience-buying, comscore, data, data management, media buying, television, upfront

4 comments about "In Advance Of Upfront, JIC Preps First Currency Audits, Deems VideoAmp Demos 'Transactable'".

Check to receive email when comments are posted.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, December 19, 2024 at 10:57 a.m.
So the effort to keep the pressure on Nielsen continues as well as sidestepping the MRC with its stricter audits. However, almost all of the major upfront deals that will be made in June or July 2025 will use Nielsen ratings as the standard "audience" metric. As Yogi once said, "It's like deja vu all over again."
Reply

Joe Mandese from MediaPost Inc., December 19, 2024 at 11:28 a.m.

@Ed Papazian: I don't disagree with your observations, but this was a straight news story and I didn't want to editorialize on those points.

I think competing audits (ie. vis a vis the MRC's) will create additional marketplace confusion on top of what the JIC has already done, but it's a part of their previously stated process.

Here's a side note about Nielsen they included in their updated guidelines that I did not include in our initial coverage:

A Word on Nielsen
It’s worth noting that Nielsen is also
undergoing a transition from ACM and AMA,
which is expected to fulll the potential of
providing SBS cross-platform reach and
impressions. We recognize that Nielsen oered
three currencies for the 2024/2025 upfront
transactional guarantees, including Nielsen
Panel Only (ACM/AMA), Nielsen Panel + Big Data
(ACM/AMA), and Individual Commercial Metrics
(ICM).
While Nielsen continues to advance its MRC
Accreditation eorts by integrating panel data
with big data, Nielsen’s oering has not yet
been evaluated or tested by JIC members. JIC
members continue to express a strong desire
for Nielsen to submit its “Big Data + Panel” data
to the JIC for evaluation on transactional
readiness to the same degree new currencies
have partnered in this eort. This step is vital
for addressing concerns around cross-platform
measurement and for reinforcing industry-wide
condence in fair, standardized methodologies
that align with the evolving needs of
advertisers, broadcasters, and content creators
alike.
Additionally, the JIC sees an opportunity for
Nielsen to collaborate with the JIC to establish
a clear, unied standard for streaming
methodologies and to adopt a standardized
dataset. In the streaming era, discrepancies
between measurement providers should no
longer exist as we work towards the rollout of
our SDS service. Ensuring consistency and
transparency in measurement practices is
critical for fostering trust across the industry.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, December 19, 2024 at 12:21 p.m.

Thanks, Joe.

The basic story re the "JIC" and MRC is that the "JIC" wants to make it easy for various data sources to come on board as suppliers of add-on metrics to Nielsen's ratings. This is because the MRC's standards are, thankfully, too high---and costly to attain. So the "JIC" has worked around the MRC, using less stringent "auditing" standards to facilitate their inclusion in its stable of "transactionable currencies". BTW, I wish all of the players well, but it's difficult to imagine that any of these "currencies" will become the medium's standard "currency". But you never know....?

Jack Wakshlag from Media Strategy, Research & Analytics, December 19, 2024 at 5:44 p.m.

So,
“ In the streaming era, discrepancies
between measurement providers should no
longer exist as we work towards the rollout of
our SDS service”. So why do I need more than one measurement provider? Answer: You don’t if there are no discrepancies.