Mind the JIC gap

Ignoring the ins and outs of whatever happens inside programmatic’s black boxes, there are not many issues in adland more complex than understanding JICs.

Even excluding the actual technical feats of delivering the gold-standard currencies – those things that underpin media planning and billions of pounds in trading – the politics that surround them can make your head spin.

Firstly, some people love to bash a JIC. Too slow to change, they say. Too expensive to run (cheaper than asking Nielsen). Doesn’t say what I wanted to hear (tough). Too robust (ha). Too independent (wow). The panel is too small (groan).

Yet Joint Industry Currencies – BARB, Rajar, Route, PAMCo et al – are more vital than ever in the age of untrust.

So yes, independent measurement is absolutely vital – and no, you should not let Facebook mark its own homework. Better to be expensive, slow and right than quick, cheap and wrong.

But in many ways the JICs are evolving. For example, BARB, for all its perceived slowness, is now able to measure TV delivered over the internet and provide multiple-screen data. The NRS, after a lot of money and a lot of hard work, evolved to become PAMCo – and the first service of its kind to deliver cross device measurement covering print, smartphones, desktops and tablets.

So what’s the latest gripe?

If you look at a chart showing where all the ad money is going, it’s into platforms largely not covered by JICs.

Facebook and Google, although using third parties to tell you about their audiences, are not independently measured to any JIC standard. And if you read between the lines, they probably won’t be any time soon.

This has created a schism in the media and ad markets, compounded by the fact that JICs the world over – they’re popular in Europe, and don’t exist in the US – only measure media in their own territories, which is increasingly at odds with a globally connected ad market.

Throw in stakeholders sitting on JIC boards that are loath to let their newest competition into the JIC club (why would they?), and we have a confusing cocktail that, ultimately, will let advertisers down.

Expect changes, however. If the big tech companies are to be excluded, they still have the clout to make something happen, and advertisers – as outlined in this report from our Big Day of Data event – want a more unified and simple approach to true cross-platform, cross device measurement. Where there is a gap in a market, there is a business waiting to fill it. So who will fill the JIC gap?

Farewell, and welcome

So long Derek Jones, who steps down as CEO of Mediatel today (Friday 28 June).

He will become the business’s executive chairman, with Greg Grimmer, the former COO of Fetch, filling his shoes as of next week.

Derek is the reason we’re able to run this publication, and he’s been with the business since the start – closing in on 40 years, can you believe.

This is us saying thanks for everything, boss. We will miss you, but glad you’re not going too far – and we look forward to welcoming Greg, who will help us meet our lofty ambitions.