omma metrics josh_chasin

On Making Measurement Make Sense:A Vendor’s Perspective

Josh Chasin; Chief Research Officer; comScorePresented at the OMMA Metrics, March 23, 2011

2© comScore, Inc. Proprietary.

@jchasin


First, The Bottom Line

I believe there are legitimate pain points the industry faces, and that these are all embedded in the findings of the MMMS pre-work

However, I do not believe all these pain points are all, at core, measurement issues

– Even though they may have been articulated as such

We CAN work together– publishers, advertisers, agencies, measurers– to bring more money into digital

If only there was one single magic number

that made digital as easy to buy as TV…


Pain Points

Ecosystem complexity

– And the resulting need for a simple compelling narrative

A need for some sort of engagement metric

Pre-buy vs. Post-buy


Pain Point #1: The Ecosystem is Complex


As the Great Media Planner Albert Einstein said…

Everything should be made

as simple as possible… but no

simpler.


The Digital Ecosystem…


…the Network TV EcosystemA

dve

rtis

er

Ag

ency

Net

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rk


Is There a Disconnect?

Advertiser(Spendus Digitalis)

I want to buy an engaged consumer

The Digital Ecosystem(Quantificus Algorithmus)

I want to sell you real time delivery of impressions to

cookies


Pain Point #2: The Need for an Engagement Metric


This is an Impression.


In the Beginning, All We Needed Were Gross Ratings Points

Gross Ratings Points: for given target, GRP = Reach X Frequency*

– Reach: how many of these

– Frequency: how many of these per person

Reach

Frequency

Gross Rating Points

* Specifically, % reach X average frequency


Advertising Metrics Were, Literally, 2-Dimensional

..and that was enough, because if you bought enough TV, your campaign worked

But today there are:

– SO MANY advertising choices (media, vehicles, inventory types)

– SO MUCH fragmentation– SO MANY communications

objectives

…that we cannot afford to assume all impressions are equal


Metrics Have Emerged to Attempt to Measure the Quality of the Impression Itself

In print… Starch noticing weights

Ad verification, brand health metrics, etc.

And the great, elusive metrics kahuna…

– “Engagement’

How do we place a differential value on the quality of the impression?


The Greatest Challenge in Digital Metrics: The Last Two Feet

The last 2 feet

Who’s out there?

Are they engaged with the content?

Did they see your ad?

For how long?

How did they experience your ad?


Media Metrics 3D: The Measuring!

Reach

Frequency

Engagement

Gross Rating Points

Exposure scoring

Differential scoring of impressions adds the missing dimension to advertising and audience measurement

Alas, there is no single metric that immediately lends itself universally to relative scoring of exposure

– Because different ad campaigns have different communications objectives


But What Is Engagement (or, if You Prefer, Impression Quality?)

Emotional connection with the media vehicle content?

Emotional connection with the creative?

Time spent (duration) with the ad?

Lack of competitive clutter?

Visibility?

Change in awareness, attitude, favorability, or purchase intent?

Drive to website, search, or store?

A clickthrough?

Variable based on consumer place in purchase cycle?

Variable based on consumer presence in category?

17


Engagement Measurement: A Call to Action

Can we develop a single metric that allows us to compare the quality of impressions across consumers, campaigns, media, and vehicles?

– I’m guessing no, but we should try..

If not, can we develop an array of impression scoring metrics based on the different advertiser objectives at play?

– And an ecosystem that can accommodate variable impression scoring based on marketing objective?


Pain Point #3: A Disconnect Between the Pre-buy and Post-buy


If Only We Could Make the Internet as Simple as TV…

In TV, planning, buying, and campaign post-analysis are all done with a single currency: the Nielsen ratings

But, since here in digital we have publishers and Page Views, not broadcasters and Program Ratings, maybe broadcast isn’t the appropriate media metaphor

In the print business, MRI (magazines) and Scarborough (newspaper) are the “pre-buy” currency

But guarantees and post-analysis are done on circulation (ABC data)

Ad server data is essentially the digital analogue for circulation data


You need the weather forecast to tell you whether or not to bring an umbrella tomorow…

…But you know whether it HAS rained based on how wet you actually got

You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows


A Plea…


Please: We Do Not Need a Metrics Tribunal


The Most Measurable Medium…

…is, invariably, the medium with the most measures

Digital advertising is inherently complex and multifaceted

– Search, display– Video, rich media– CTR, exposure, awareness, sales impact, etc.– Pre-shop, movement through the funnel– Brand value– Social– Mobile– Tablets

Next year there will be 3 more things on this list, and I have no idea what they will be


Metrics are a Vital Component of the Ecosystem

We already have a great system for assuring that new and resonant metrics will continue to emerge and evolve

– It’s called the free market system

Metrics and measurement are a sector of the “delicate balance of nature” that is the digital ecosystem

– And as such, contribute to the health of that ecosystem to the extent that we are unfettered to innovate and thrive

– We all know the engine of growth in this space is innovation– A tribunal is anathema to innovation


Note: this presentation is not, in fact, accredited by the MRC.

Metrics are a Vital Component of the Ecosystem

To the extent that we need a tripartite body to audit and accredit the vast panoply of digital metrics… we’ve already got that

– Let’s all agree to work together to make sure that the MRC is sufficiently focused and energized to fill whatever unmet need here might still exist

– And first and foremost, that means publishers, advertisers and agencies invested in the health of the ecosystem and the robustness of digital metrics, join the MRC and become part of the solution

How do we make sure the MRC is sufficiently “digital”?

– If enough of you join the MRC, you will have done so


A Prescription: Compelling Narrative


The Digital Ecosystem…


The Complex Ecosystem: A Call to Action

The antidote to the challenge of a complex ecosystem is to develop a compelling narrative

Let’s work on that narrative

How can we make the story of digital advertising as simple and compelling as the story of TV advertising? As magazine advertising?


To Sum Up…


Summary: Talking Points

The complexity of the ecosystem is a barrier to revenue growth

– And there isn’t a magic metric that can remove that complexity

A good thing for the industry to focus some creativity and brain power on is measurement strategies around engagement

– Or, if you prefer, differential scoring of impression quality

We have different datasets for pre-buy versus post-buy

– That’s part of the complexity, but a fact of life

Innovation drives all parts of the ecosystem including metrics

Before we rush to the conclusion that measurement needs fixing, let’s get the narrative nailed down

– Metrics reinforce, embellish, and drive home the stories we tell– But we need to figure out what those stories are first


If We Build the Narrative…

…the metrics will be there

But let’s nail down the narrative first

– So we can live happily ever after

omma metrics josh_chasin

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emotional

vital component

variable based

digital metrics

differential

complex ecosystem

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