Gerard Broussard

Articles by Gerard All articles by Gerard

• Mining Value From Seconds-Based TV Measurement in Planning & Buying Insider on 02/27/2024
  

  The granularity of second-by-second TV audience measurement promises to usher in an era of individual commercial ratings vs. the industry's historical standard averaging all ads in a show. But that will require systems upgrades.

• Recouping Video Content Investment: How Affinity Analytics Can Help in Publishers Daily on 05/16/2023
  

  The end game is for programmers to manage content strategies more efficiently by steadily monitoring audiences via affinity analytics and translating the insights to enhance pre-and post-launch schedule placement and promotional ad strategies.

• How To Avoid Targeting Tragedies in MediaDailyNews on 06/29/2020
  

  Here are strategies that can help marketers or agencies avoid the pitfalls of lack of segment accuracy and lack of purchase forecasting science.

Comments by Gerard All comments by Gerard

• Alt Currency Race: Why It's Time For A Pit Stop by Matthew Kramer (Planning & Buying Insider on 02/01/2024)
  

  Matt, I applaud the notion of an eyes-wide-open view of "alt currencies."  And I believe that Ed P. makes a good point that Nielsen is likely to remain the primary currency for premium video in the years to come for all the reasons he's cited . . . at least it looks like that now.  But I think we all have to admit that without the presence of companies like VideoAmp, iSpot.tv and Comscore, Nielsen would have taken baby steps towards capturing the ever-fragmenting cross platform viewing universe. Instead, they're responding with a 42k panel and 72 mm STB/SmartTV homes.  I only hope that at least one Video audience measurement in addition to Nielsen, remains in the industry to keep the improvements in product development coming.  And speaking of currency, think of all the fun when NielsenOne includes second-by-second data later this year.  I guess measurement perfection is truly a process and not an event.        

• What If The Multiple TV Currencies Used This Upfront Clash? by Dave Morgan (Media Insider on 04/13/2023)
  

  A juicy topic, for sure Dave.   First, there probably needs to be more public transparency which reveals audience estimate differences across alt currencies.  Are they systematic, i.e., are Alt currency A estimates always higher than Alt currency B's and C's?  Or do the differences vary by program and/or daypart?  How are media agencies able to know if they don't subscribe to all of the options out there?  While the alt currency movement is a big step in the right direction, some standardization is needed to evolve alt currency.  But I don't see that happening in the near term since alt currency opacity may be considered a marketplace edge for sellers and buyers alike, especially with advanced targeting.  I suppose the two sides will have to sort things out, deal by deal, for the immediate future.            

• Nielsen Rival iSpot Leads $16M Investment In TVision by Wayne Friedman (Television News Daily on 11/15/2022)
  

  Great example of how synergy between two leading TV ecosystem companies can keep the measurement momentum moving forward.  Measuring and reporting personal viewing is a gap in big data STB/Smart TV ACR solutions.  This is a big step forward.  It will be interesting to see how the TVision persons panel data will be modeled to fit ISpot viewing reports, if that is the intention.  And let's not forget about the TVision attention metrics.   

• Is There A Future for Research? Q&A With Jeff Boehme by Charlene Weisler (MediaDailyNews on 07/15/2021)
  

  Great interview, Charlene.  Jeff, thanks for capturing the metamorphasis of TV research and metrics over the years so well.  We definitely need standards to bring all the disparate big data pieces together.  A shout out to Jane Clarke and CIMM for playing a key role in standardization efforts to date.  

• Viewers Are Killing TV Measurement And Something Has To Change by Tom Weiss (Television News Daily on 02/11/2020)
  

  The disruption that has been unfolding in the TV space is likely to continue until the marketplace, i.e., marketers and media agencies galvanize support for an alternative source(s) of TV ratings currency. This switchover will be more of a process than an event that unfolds during the next several years as the industry will continue to operate in a multi-source world where Nielsen remains the go-to age and gender currency for audience guarantees.  There is mounting evidence, however, that more deals are being guaranteed on data-driven-linear (DDL) targets woven from set top box, smart TV and first- and third-party consumer data.  In effect, this dynamic is more like the big bang expansion of the universe that will likely continue until the advertising industry agrees upon standards for cross-media measurement that include tecnological connecting of pipes and standards for metrics; the master plan for this work is now unfolding under the auspices of the WFA (World Federation of Advertising).  For the immediate future, grab some popcorn, watch the show and do your best to select the right combination of data sets for planning and transacting TV ads.      

• Don't Blame Targeting by Ted McConnell (Media Insider on 08/01/2019)
  

  Nicely said, Ted!  The quality and accuracy of consumer target segments is a Pandora's box of issues that needs opening but marketers, media agencies and media companies (and let's not forget the data providers) might be too perplexed and frightened at what they would find.  Amazing that not more industry focus in concentrated here.  But I'm feeling that will change pretty soon, but will need the backing of advertisers.  Gerard  

• Turner Leaves Open AP Consortium by Wayne Friedman (Television News Daily on 04/20/2019)
  

  Not surprising, given Xandr's internal focus but disappointing as it seems that TV network groups have such an opportunity to collectively marshall resources to improve their products.  Economies of scale could potentially be achieved through cooperative standardization of third-party data contracts and ad avails systems development.  I suppose the networks want to retain their "special sauce" approach but the individual flavors may get lost if advertisers and media agencies have difficulty making holistic sense of all the offerings out there. 

• Digital Ad Marketplaces Don't Work For TV by Dave Morgan (Media Insider on 10/25/2018)
  

  Dave, Nice piece.While the road to automation of linear TV buying is going to be gradual, we could be in for some surprises within the next couple of years on the OTT front. vMVPD skinny bundles like Google TV, Sling, Playstation Vue are beginning to amount to more than a hill of beans, currently at 7.1 million homes, expected to more than double by 2020. Right now, the commercials airing on national broadcast and cable networks should be the same in linear as in OTT skinny bundles.  It will be interesting to see, however, how this might change as streaming, with addressable capabilities, becomes a more dominant means of viewing.  Perhaps networks would offer some kind of addressability during national commercial air time which might suit an advertiser like Unilever who can lock in TV inventory but then dynaically allocate spots against individual brands within its portfolio to individual homes that best match target audience profiles.  Under this scenario, you would need some digital-like ad serving technology, which streaming is well suited for.  I'm not an engineer but it seems it would be a matter of time before the tv networks would explore this avenue to improve on their inventory yields, which have been languishing. 

• Ad-Supported OTT Viewers Incremental To TV by Alex Weprin (Digital News Daily on 10/09/2018)
  

  Amen, Jack!!  With all that is out there . . .

• TV Advertising's Future Will Focus On What We Actually DO With Data by Dave Morgan (Media Insider on 07/12/2018)
  

  All excellent points, especially about the erosion of the conceptual art of media planning.  It seems that when device graphs are connected with consumers, a cross platform measurement-and-reporting victory is declared.  But this technical feat is useless without full knowledge of the conceptual underpinnings on how advertising works.  The TV industry now appears to be committed to learn more how advertising works by packaging ad inventory with the goal of achieving business outcomes.  Encouraging.  Ths movement could be a catalyst for media agencies to intensify efforts to advance their own TV buying models and train personel on how best to tweak TV (and all media) investments to improve client business.  When I was overseeing research and analytics on the media agency side, more often than not the strategic planners would ask my department to run the more complex media planning software modules.  I kind of wonder if things have changed.  If not, they need to.   

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