IAB Australia moves measurement contract after a decade with Nielsen
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia is switching providers for the planning, buying, and reporting of digital audience measurement data.
From Q2 2022, Ipsos’ Iris platform will replace Nielsen as the sole provider to IAB Australia, after ten years of the later providing the services.
The appointment of Ipsos as the preferred supplier is the culmination of a review of requirements conducted by Venture Consulting for IAB which formed the basis for the standards and specifications of a tender issued in May.
A total of 16 organisations responded to the tender which IAB Australia then whittled down to 4 for closer review and “rigorous testing”.
Gai Le Roy
CEO of IAB Australia, Gai Le Roy, told Mumbrella: “Ipsos stood out due to experience, proven track record, willingness to invest in the Australian market, and a good strong solid measurement management team locally and globally.
“The appointment of Ipsos will instil confidence in advertisers for planning decisions on where to invest their media budgets by providing accountability for their investments and offering ways to evaluate opportunities and measure success consistently across all media.”
While the Ipsos Iris will be built in collaboration with IAB Australia, a version of it is already in place in the UK, and endorsed by UKOM, the UK standard for audience measurement across PC, tablet and smartphone.
“We offer a proven tested response, which has been done in another market,” said Ipsos chief data and research officer, audience measurement, Heather White. “But, we will be doing things in Australia that are not done in the UK, it is tailored to the Australian market.”
Le Roy said that the addition of new devices and Connected TV (CTV) measurement was a key focus for IAB when deciding on which provider to go with, because of the changes in both technology and consumer behaviour.
“We were looking for something that would bring CTV to the table,” she told Mumbrella. “Previously we had three devices – desktop, mobile and tablet – but we know how important connected time is now so bringing that in was really important.
“The CTV piece can not be underestimated, the fact that we are working with OzTam to bring their data into the Ipsos Iris system is really exciting for me.”
OzTam CEO Doug Peiffer said OzTam looks forward to working with the IAB and Ipsos to provide “the best possible data sources in defining Australia’s video viewing market” – leveraging insights from its streaming TV meters in 2,500+ panel homes.
CEO of Ipsos Australia and New Zealand, Simon Wake, said the data drawn from panellists will extend beyond media consumption and provide “unrivalled insights” for clients into everyday digital behaviours.
“Our proposed solution draws on many of the innovations delivered in the UK and leverages our UK team’s experience over the last 18 months. We will also be drawing from our extensive local technical expertise, and we look forward to moving with the industry in lockstep collaboration.”
White added: “Ipsos is about understanding people, and this gives us an opportunity to dig deep and understand what Australians are doing digitally. It is about having real insights across multiple devices, and understanding what Australians are doing [on them].”
Nielsen managing director, Pacific, Monique Perry, said of the loss: “We are extremely proud of our achievements and the role we continue to play in shaping the Australian media landscape. Our commitment to delivering and investing in digital audience measurement remains unchanged.”
Later this year Nielsen will switch to its new Identity System in Australia which will underpin its ad and content measurement solutions as well as Nielsen’s lift and attribution offering.
“Capturing the fragmentation of consumer behaviour and the need to offer open web publishers the granularity and scale of measurement alongside the global platform integrations is still our mission,” she added.
Nielsen will continue to deliver Digital Media Ratings Monthly via its hybrid measurement system until the first half of 2022.
Le Roy said that for now, she encourages any publishers that want “really accurate representation” to get involved with Ipsos Iris.
“As much as there is a solid media panel at the base of this methodology, we are still relying on tagging and collaboration to make sure we have accurate data on publishers,” she said.
Nicole Bence, IAB Australia chair and network digital sales director at Seven West Media, added: “We and look forward to seeing its first sets of comparable and independent data in market next year, providing a true like for like measure of all publishers.”
The IAB Australia and Ipsos contract is for an initial period of three years, with provisions for extensions. Le Roy added that she hoped this was the start of a “long and prosperous partnership” with Ipsos.
Along with 41 standard metrics already available, Ipsos will work with IAB Australia to develop new metrics.
The tender evaluation was conducted by the IAB, IAB board and a technical review group consisting of members of the IAB Measurement Council and including representation from the MFA with oversight by Simpson’s Lawyers.
The IAB has more than 150 members in Australia and nearly 9,000 globally spanning media owners, publishers, technology companies, agencies and advertisers. It works to align industry stakeholders to develop standards that are integral to the operation of digital advertising.
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Olivia Kruimel is the managing editor at Mumbrella. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism, communications and marketing. Her journalism career began at Fairfax Media (now part of Nine) and includes various B2B publications such as B&T, Travel Today and ALB. As a marketer Olivia has worked for Standard Chartered and various global law firms.
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Doug Peiffer
Gai Le Roy
Heather white
IAB
IAB Australia
Ipsos
Ipsos Iris
Monique Perry
nicole bence
Nielsen
OzTam
Simon Wake
