Commentary

The Past, Present And Not-Too-Distant Future Of Standards: A Conversation With George Ivie

by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, January 2, 2025

While the rest of us were celebrating the New Year, George Ivie was celebrating his 25th anniversary as the CEO and executive director of the Media Rating Council -- already the longest-running MRC chief in the council's 60-year history.

But Ivie isn't looking to pack it in anytime soon, and despite a number of recent expansions into new forms of digital media -- and even place-based ones such as point-of-care media networks -- Ivie already is looking into even more disruptive and challenging changes in the media industry, including artificial intelligence.

Watch my in-depth interview with him above, and feel free to make some comments, or just congratulate him on his long and successful run.

future of media, media, q&a

5 comments about "The Past, Present And Not-Too-Distant Future Of Standards: A Conversation With George Ivie".

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JT Peace from Weather Group, January 2, 2025 at 12:48 p.m.
Congrats on 25 yrs George and happy new year, looking fwd to the next. Should be an interesting one!
Reply

M Cohen from marshall cohen associates, January 2, 2025 at 1:20 p.m.

I have had the honor and pleasure to work with George for many of his 25 years.
Congrats on this accomplishment and we all look forward to many more years of George running the MRC!

Howard Shimmel from Janus Strategy & Insights, LLC, January 2, 2025 at 2:42 p.m.

I've oftened said how lucky the industry is to have George and his amazing team at the MRC being an unbiased arbiter of research quality. The other key players in the audit process- the measurement companies seeking accreditation and their clients- have justifiable parochial postions they bring. But the MRC doesn't. Congrats to George on 25 years. Hope you have alot of stamina- I can't see your role getting any easier.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, January 3, 2025 at 9:40 a.m.

Very interesting interview --thanks Joe and George. I have always been a big supporter of MRC but one development which we have seen in recent years has been a seeming conflict between some TV time sellers and the MRC's tough auditing standards. This has led to various research suppliers being "certified" as "transactionally" viable by an industry grouping that seems to be bypassing the MRC with the object to make it easier to be considered accepatble.

Frankly, I find this new trend worrysome and I hope that it remains a limited practice or phases out entirely. Now, more than ever, we need the MRC to create a level playing field between the various research entities and media platforms so we can have a fair degree of confidence in applying their findings.

Jack Wakshlag from Media Strategy, Research & Analytics, January 8, 2025 at 12:45 p.m.

George's steady hand and trusted leadership have served the industry spectacularly well. MRC accreditation remains the bedrock of trusted media measurement. Grading your own homework, not so much.