- In The Industry's 'Currency Fiesta,' Is Attention The Ultimate Common Currency? in
MediaDailyNews on
04/08/2025
"Fiesta" or "farrago," could attention metrics be the multicurrency solution that normalizes value across all media channels and media vehicles?
- ARF Day Two: 'Who Do You Trust?' in
MediaDailyNews on
03/27/2025
The second day of the Audience x Science conference echoed Day One's trust issues, underscored by discussions about the evolution of AI, the ANA's Project Aquila, and the continuing dominance of
walled garden data.
- ARF Day One: Nielsen Still The Currency Force, Attention Finds Its Center in
MediaDailyNews on
03/26/2025
The first day of its Audience x Science Conference delivered fascinating learnings on media and ad measurement, but "attention" metrics surely dominated.
- Media & Marketing Analytics: Back To The Future? in
Planning & Buying Insider on
11/14/2024
Sequent's partners, Jim Spaeth and Alice Sylvester, have assiduously helped marketers understand the enormous complexities and see through the smoke and mirrors of marketing mix modeling, multi-touch
attribution, and last-touch attribution, as revealed by their many cautions, caveats, and questions.
- CIMM Report Reveals An Elephant In The Panel Measurement Room in
Planning & Buying Insider on
10/24/2024
Thanks to CIMM, the industry now has an incredibly comprehensive and detailed report on the value and projectable costs of panel-based audience measurement.
- A Hundred Reasons To Ask, Does The Trade Desk Have 'Premium' Right? in
Planning & Buying Insider on
09/19/2024
That's what an ARF town hall discussed Wednesday following its release of a "top 100" premium suppliers list, which ranks Hulu No. 1 and France's Le Figaro No. 100.
- The Marketplace Implications Of MRC's OOH Standards in
MediaDailyNews on
07/01/2024
Buyers and sellers who chase cheap CPMs generated by inflated opportunity-to-see metrics rather than significantly more valuable likelihood-to-see ones will undervalue out-of-home media.
- Are Attention Metrics On A Path To Becoming Advertising Currency? in
Planning & Buying Insider on
05/16/2024
Based on this week's release of phase 2 of the ARF's validation initiative, it's complicated.
- In Dissent in
MediaDailyNews on
04/29/2024
This MRC standard essentially takes out-of-home back to the days of using distribution/circulation for planning and buying the medium, using definitions and derivations that are ill-defined, confused,
contradictory and inconsistent.
- Be Scared, But Don't Be Fooled in
MediaDailyNews on
03/28/2024
The JIC's clarifying statement focuses on "transparency around transactional readiness," but has nothing to do with the quality, validity or relevance of a proposed advertising currency metric.
- Nice Merger You've Got There, It Would Be A Shame If Something Happened To It
by
Dan Perry
(Red, White & Blog on
01/02/2026)
Dan: Brilliant synopsis of the evolving capitulation and convenient acquiesence of the media to the current regime. While many would have no desire "to live there" or now perhaps even "live here", I am reminded of what the film maker Michael Moore implored during an MSNBC interview during the first equally corrupt term of the current incumbent: "Stay and fight!"
- '60 Minutes' And 'Integrity': Where Do Viewers And Brands Figure In?
by
Wayne Friedman
(TV Watch on
12/29/2025)
Melissa: Spot on from a former CBS employee. As consistently demonstrated, "no experience" and "proven to lack the qualifications and intellect necessary for the job" pervades the current administration who Weiss unequivocally has demonstrated she serves.
- The Most Red - Er, I Mean Read - White & Blogs
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
12/29/2025)
Joe: Another brilliant year of reporting - and a well deserved standing "O" and thank-you. Elbows-up!
- '60 Minutes' And 'Integrity': Where Do Viewers And Brands Figure In?
by
Wayne Friedman
(TV Watch on
12/29/2025)
Wayne: An excellent balanced assessment of the shameful blatant political decision by Bari Weiss driven by the current regime and its goal of muzzling the "quality news media" and their efforts to deliver honest truthful reporting on its on-going failures - per Sharon Alfonsi of 60 Minutes! The deportations and payments to El Salvador surely mark an indelible stain on the US, the details of which all its citizens need to fully understand.
- The Federal Censorship Commission
by
Joe Mandese
(TV Watch on
12/18/2025)
As a key contributor to "Project 2025" Brendan Carr is unequivocally a toady of the current regime which Senator Ed Markey, Mass., correctly called him on. As abhorrant as this FCC stance was, a continuing issue for Democrats and REAL Republicans is surely whether to consider rescinding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act due to the abject failure of the social media technopolies to meaningfully regulate their content gutters. (The Section reflects a key provision that grants limited federal immunity to providers and users of interactive computer services from being held liable for information provided by others. Enacted as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, it allows platforms to host user-generated content without being treated as the publisher or speaker of that content. This section has been pivotal in shaping the internet by protecting online platforms from legal repercussions related to user content.)
- A Brief History Of Broadcast Time (Spent)
by
Joe Mandese
(TV Watch on
12/16/2025)
Ed: What about "real" football, e.g. Premier League, as opposed to the US gladiator sport? Maybe its increasing popularity and the World Cup in NA next year will effect the Sport's share a tick or two in 2026?
- ANA Cross-Measurement Platform Aquila Taps Samba For Streaming Data
by
Joe Mandese
(MediaDailyNews on
10/22/2025)
Josh & Ed: HH data "personified" then used to "assign" viewer presence (e.g. button pushed versus actual viewing)? Set usage (device ) data assigned/ascribed to persons and viewing? Three different sources - Kantar, Conscore and SAMBA - each with various and different bases and basis, video behaviour measurements as well as an array of assignments/imputations, etc., etc. So, without truly independent validation of an extremely complex data manipulation and integration, it appears that Ed's "distorted picture" may unfortunately be the case. It appears that at best Aquila/HALO would only deliver a ballpark planning R&F estimate based on the very broadest video input specs at the least dependable simulated persons OTS possible. If this is correct (?), to use such a broadly scoped campaign R&F estimate for outcomes projections is particulary puzzlling beyond the fact that it is the creative that is the primary driver of campaign outcomes albeit with the support of optimal synergisitc media vehicles that "encourage or enhance" real attention for the brand message.
- ANA Cross-Measurement Platform Aquila Taps Samba For Streaming Data
by
Joe Mandese
(MediaDailyNews on
10/22/2025)
As a memberof the WFA's HALO Industry Tehnical Advisory Group, HITAG, I have expressed serious concerns with device-based and consequently "content-rendered-count" data for Cross Media Measurement, CMM, versus persons-based attention (Eyes/Ears-On at a minimum) metrics program by program or ad by ad, due to the former's associated media biases and relatively poor relationship to campaign outcomes. No attention, there can be no outcomes! HALO, a highly complex multi-faceted construct and base model for CMM initiatives in various countries, has been developed (with the primary support of the technoplolies) to form the basis for the ANA's Aquila and ISBA's ORIGIN currently. However, answers to key questions raised with Aquila are still awaiting response. They include whether there is a consistent and acceptable definition of "impressions", and/or "viewing", and/or "audience", used throughout all and every data source used and integrated within the HALO/CMM model along with their independently verified validity (walled gardens data?!)? And, if not, how are they harmonized and made comparable to what final CMM model definition and derivation of sources used or imputed? These questions address the industry's fundamental on-going media metrics disconnect. Are there conflicting defintions of metrics across the various data sources and inputs used to produce a final campaign Reach & Frequency estimate, i.e., What will the final Aquila resulting reach and frequency estimate acually represent?In the interests of full disclosure, accountability and transparency, it appears that SAMBA TV relies on ACR data which is solely device-based data together with detailed household profile data from a panel but without persons-based, independently verified, actual measured viewing. If correct (?), SAMBA data would merely reflect content-rendered-counts, aka the oft misrepresented "viewable impressions" (No REAL OTS), on a screen that are likely associated with a projected HH profile of the device owner. What we used to call circulation/distribution data years ago. If this is the case, Ed's concerns are are on point and advertisers and their media agencies should ensure that these basic concerns are resolved by HALO and Aquila. As a reminder, high quality samples when independently validated are first representative of a given universe. Sample size while not unimporant is somewhat secondary and depends on the level of detail being sought, e.g., dayparts (planning) versus show by show or program by program (buyng). The latter would require a much larger sample than the former. A non-representative sample however large will always produce specious results.
- It's Tough To Consume Conscientiously
by
Gord Hotchkiss
(Media Insider on
09/22/2025)
Gord: Insightful piece. As to what effect one family's decision could really make, I remind readers that ultimately it takes just one grain of sand to tip a scale. There were ~90 million (35%) eligible voters in the US that did not vote in the last election. That is a lot of grains of sand to restore democracy in the US.
- Calling Nielsen Viewing Audible? NFL Says Its Audience Is Bigger
by
Wayne Friedman
(TV Watch on
09/04/2025)
Josh, Ed, Jack & John: A brilliant review and assessment which hopefully Paul Ballew will accept and many will.study? You should each send the NFL an invoice! Of course, we never hear from the media when "the numbers" are clearly overstated or misrepresented per "viewable impressions" aka content-rendered-counts. And yes Josh, even persons-based "proximity" is neither "viewing" nor Eyes/Ears-On. As you would expect I watch REAL football and not a gladiator sport that tried to deny CET.