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Tony Jarvis

Member since April 2006Contact Tony

As proprietor and Research Architect for the Olympic Media Consultancy we serve global clients in 3 key areas: Provide expert leadership, analysis, planning and strategic thinking to optimize the value and usage of available media/marketing and data/systems information. Generate increased marketing ROI (revenue, profitability and brand equity) by providing relevant insights through designing, executing and interpreting superior advertising research. Evaluate and improve advertising and media effectiveness for agencies and their clients by understanding, developing and managing meticulous consumer research and applying "leading edge" models and concepts. Tony was Chairman of CARF, Canada and is a former Board member of The ARF and MRC . An Olympian he was formerly the British Olympic Swim Team Captain. He writes Op Eds exclusively for Media Post and also offers regular pithy comments on Media Post articles. He refuses to use "Fakebook"!

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  • Half Of Advertisers Buying Programmatic Are Underperforming... by Joe Mandese (Planning & Buying Insider on 05/29/2026)

    Michael:  I respectfully suggest that this TAG report is somewhat flawed albeit insightful.  So called "viewable impressions" per MRC have no persons-based real exposure measures.  They merely reflect 'content-rendered-counts' (on the glass, etc.), i.e., NO REAL OTS, nor LTS, nor contacts even if independently verified, a fundamental POP requirement.  Per The Attention Council, "No attention, no outcomes!"  So whether programmatic or otherwise, evaluating media ROI on anything other than persons-based "qualified" attention metrics is surely spurious.  At media agencies , CPM has always stood for "Completely Positively Mad".  Whether "True" or not, meaningful CPMs based on attention metrics can offer advertisers True insights into relative media efficiencies but even then only as long as they are combined with a myriad of other media qualities relative to the creative message and the brand campaign.    

  • Obit: Long-Time Media Research Leader Andy Brown, Dead At 63 by Joe Mandese (MediaDailyNews on 05/26/2026)

    Josh & Joe:  Let's make this happen!  Have alerted Scott McDonald at ARF. 

  • Obit: Long-Time Media Research Leader Andy Brown, Dead At 63 by Joe Mandese (MediaDailyNews on 05/26/2026)

    Andy was not only a titan of the media research business globally, he shared his deep knowledge and insights willingly and in the clearest manner with us all to the very end. I shalll be forever be grateful for his counsel over the years.  While British and an avid Arsenal fan (I will forgive him!), I would respectfully suggest that ARF considers postumously awarding Andy the "Erwin Ephron Demystification Award" which I was proud to help institute.  I believe his fellow "titan", Erwin, would be more than delighted.

  • Just The FACs, Ma'am: ANA Unveils Its Own New Ad Tax by Joe Mandese (MediaDailyNews on 05/05/2026)

    Levying a "tax" on media data users of a measurement system based on ad spend/or ad revenues is not new.  However, what is surely peculiar for a supposedly media neutral media data/analytics service, is that Aquila is a for-profit entity, supported heavily by the walled gardens technopolies, whilst a division of a not-for-profit industry organisation.  This structure raises possible conflict of interest and data bias questions at a minimum.  Joe, back to you.  

  • No Attention, No Outcomes by Tony Jarvis (Planning & Buying Insider on 04/15/2026)

    Ed:  Sound further insights and considerations as always.  From a media planning and buying perspective, "Attentive audience (actually watched or heard) exposures" should surely be the  basis for all Cross-Media-Measurement as also urged by Jonathan Waite.  It would establish the minimal media metric threshold to achieve any outcome (verus raw impressions) albeit depending on the impact of "many other varibles", as you rightly point out.   

  • State Of The 'Currency' Marketplace: Fiesta, Siesta, Fiasco? by Tony Jarvis (Planning & Buying Insider on 04/01/2026)

    Ed: Just posted this on LinkedIn in response to Dr. Tracy Adams', ARF, excellent observations on the complex barriers facing media measurment in the US. I believe it underlines the concerns we have both expressed regarding the critical importance of people-based real exposure measurement for too long. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tracy-adams625_cimmeast2026-cimmeast2026-measurement-activity-7444879478142439424-_Jnw?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAKo4FUBIAk90m3xtqphku7ECsUhBCx676Y"I would add a caution that relying on device-based ("content rendered counts on the glass" aka "viewable impressions") measurement essentially takes the industry back years to circulation/distribution metrics that we seriously left behind after the seminal Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) Media Model was published, 2003. Understanding how advertising works and the most relevant metrics to use has continued its sophistication with Attention metrics. No Attention. No outcomes!"I have a piece coming out imminently on ARF's Evaluation of Attention Measurement, Phase III that was driven by Tracy together with Paul Donato at ARF.  Terrific work on this critical media dimension by ARF.  

  • Your Agency Is Officially A Seller -- Time To Start Treating Them Like One by Maarten Albarda (Media Insider on 03/20/2026)

    When advertisers understand that CPM stands for "Completely Positively Mad" and worse when not based on people-based measures of attention, i.e. avoid "viewable impression" device-based metrics, the impact of their media investments as part of their overall marketing efforts, will assuredly drive more cost effective brand campaign outcomes.  

  • IAB Sweden Expels Meta: Warns Advertisers About Fraud, Brand Safety by Laurie Sullivan (MediaDailyNews on 03/13/2026)

    It would be insightful to hear from Arielle Garcia at "Check My Ads" on this bold leadership move in Sweden especially as it came from iab.  Lessons to be learned and actions to be taken here???  

  • Synthetic Data Is Rewriting The Rules Of Measurement by Tasha Webb (Planning & Buying Insider on 03/11/2026)

    Bring it on, John!

  • Don't Be Dumb by J. Walker Smith (Planning & Buying Insider on 02/19/2026)

    Walker:  Huge thanks for the references and forthright insights on LLMs, AI plus your cautions on their use in marketing.  Garbage in, garbage out!?  Appears to have parallels to the current often deliberate disconnect and misunderstanding of the relative value of device/screen-based versus persons-based (consumer) actual exposure media measurement and the latter's imperative to drive a campaign outcome verus the former.

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