Sometimes we have to make a call between big numbers and meaningful numbers
Following some big claims from women's website Mamamia in its annual upfronts, IAB's acting CEO Gai Le Roy explains why the numbers still don't add up - and why wholly endorsed currencies are the best way forward.
“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest” – Mark Twain
I’ve been in the measurement industry for a very long time and ‘doing right’ when it comes to defining new industry wide metrics has never been more important.
Our industry is evolving at an incredibly rapid pace and well-publicised issues around transparency and accountability has meant that trust in digital metrics has been challenged and, in some cases eroded.
To put it bluntly, marketers deserve to trust the numbers and claims put out in market. We have to learn from the mistakes of the past (remember how long it took to be pro-active about the viewability issue?).
It is for this reason, and this reason alone, that about a month ago the IAB came out strongly against the inclusion of off platform video viewing within the Nielsen Digital Content Ratings (DCR) product.
I was clear then, and I’ll be clear now. We won’t endorse this metric until a two second video viewing qualifier is in place. This is expected to be introduced early next year and will be applied for on and off platform equally.
I understand that media owners always want to make their audiences numbers look good in market (I used to work for a publisher myself) but it is simply not helpful for anyone if the IAB endorses a metric that isn’t fully formed.
It is our responsibility to provide the market with the most accurate and independent data possible and we take this very seriously. Until the qualifier is introduced, the metric just doesn’t give an accurate picture of the number of people that can be reached through a media organisation.
This has been illustrated this week at Mamamia’s annual upfronts. I’m using them as an example as they have publicly expressed – let’s call it ‘astonishment’ – about the IAB’s decision in a number of media outlets.
As I’ve said, I understand the impulse to make numbers look as good as possible, but here’s the thing. Whilst Mamamia is claiming to be the number one women’s site (and we are thrilled that the family and lifestyle category within Nielsen’s DCR is filled with local brands), the endorsed currency numbers show a different perspective.
There is a big difference between people who have chosen to visit a particular publisher environment versus a default video start within a social feed while scrolling. The later can add reach very quickly but not necessarily the opportunity to see.
Going forward, and when faced with similar issues, IAB will continue to make the tough calls in order to develop metrics that are meaningful and trusted by buyers. The audience we are measuring across digital devices is supporting what is now a $8.5 billion industry; it would be irresponsible to rush through metrics that aren’t robust as technologically possible.
To make sure that we continue to “do right”, the IAB is about to undergo an extensive review of the methodologies and metrics that are going to be useful and meaningful in the coming years.
I’ll be talking more about this in the weeks and months to follow and I’d urge all key stakeholders to become part of the process. It is going to be a critical step in making sure we get to our next destination in the best possible way.
Gai Le Roy is acting CEO at IAB Australia.
I heartily agree.
I would also like to add that this is not the first time and it won’t be the last time that we have issues like this. Digital platforms and delivery systems are in constant change and flux. We don’t even know what the next big thing is yet – but it is just around the corner I am sure.
Compare the digital landscape to, say, the most recent ‘big change’ in the television market when it switched from analogue to digital. Every broadcaster, on a market by market basis, changed over on the same date and time. Everyone was on an equal footing at all times. This made measurement much easier.
With digital publishing there is a mad scramble to be the first to market with the latest and greatest. That is what I both love and loathe about digital!
The big question is do you ‘reward’ first to market and have open slather? No. Do you ‘punish’ the early adopters by only going as fast as the slowest publisher? Again the answer is No. The preferred course of action lies in-between – change only when there is sufficient mass of usage. This may mean that a few slowpokes could be disadvantaged, but in my experience that becomes a great fillip to action.
In this case, with the Nielsen SDK not yet treating on-platform and on-platform equally, you stay with what you have. This also ensures that you don’t have as many ‘trend breaks’ as publishers deploy one by one.
By all means early-adopters can use internal website analytics as a lead indicator in the interim until the currency measurement of the market deploys. I’d also hate to have included every bell and whistle I have seen created over the years simply because you don’t know which ones will have longevity and which ones won’t last the course.
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At what stage will DCR put into account paid amplification… (if they can at all) ie. Sponsored Content that then gets amplified with media spend on social platforms by the publisher who’s being measured via reach.
Otherwise this is not an accurate way to make comparisons of performance of where to put your money. That practice started to die down in the past few years, but with the new DCR, its going to be encouraged again.
Completely disregard Viewability here as that’s a separate issue, but with 50 grand behind one piece of content, some no name publisher could start tomorrow and immediately top that DCR list within a week. The trick is getting paid $100K by an advertiser for the ‘native content’ to do it. Some publishers are transparent about this in their discussions though, but the DCR opens advertisers up to some bad (or in most cases, naive) actors to have their actions justified as the correct thing to do.
Buyer beware for the next few years.
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Meanwhile the Facebook/Google duopoly rubs it’s hands with glee as the local publishing industry squabbles over the remaining scraps. The IAB should spend more time solving with the structural problem within the local digital advertising economy and less time playing ‘hall monitor’ to an industry already on it’s knees.
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Completely agree, the iAB seems to have knelt down before the Google and Facebook overlords. It is quite sad really that digital doesn’t have a representative body which is out there to help all Australian media business. The iAB is just helping facilitate the demise of Australian media
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What do you want the IAB to do exactly?
Google & Facebook mark their own homework, keep their own data and answer internally. How is the IAB at fault by asking publishers to hold standards?
I feel your pain on Google & Facebook market dominance but the response is not in the IAB encouraging publishers to tell porkies and take scraps. Where does that end?
The IAB is limited by Internet Advertising. On this matter, Google & Facebook care for consumers (who spend time and make content) and brands (who spend money and don’t dig too deep). No-one else matters. Certainly not the IAB
Industry ad standards only go so far with structural media industry issues. If you’re really bothered then raise it with the ACCC. Demand digital copyright reform. Ask Google & Facebook to pay publishers (and consumers) for aggregating free content and plundering the media industry.
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To clarify my comment.
On-platform and off-platform video are being treated the same in the Nielsen SDK. The SDK complies with the MRC ‘video starts’ requirement. However, until early 2019 it won’t meet the IAB 2-second threshold.
There is a subtle consumer behavioural difference also at play.
Implementation of video on desktop/laptop is quite different to mobile/tablet. Remember the bad old days of video auto-play on your PC? Thankfully that is the exception now rather than the rule, so its incidence is greatly reduced. On mobile devices you can swipe through content with video starts automatically registering, particularly for off-platform where the content owner has no direct control.
When the 2-second threshold is implemented and we have the ‘qualified audience’, don’t expect to see the numbers you may be currently seeing – hence IAB’s decision.
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