ISBA has announced a “successful” first stage of its proof of concept for Origin, its proposed UK cross media measurement initiative.
This proof of concept, which was primarily focussed on TV, is a real-life test of Origin’s proposed deduplication methodology, which is called the Virtual ID model.
In the first six months of 2021, Origin worked with BARB partners Ipsos MORI and RSMB to test how well the Virtual ID works. Ipsos runs the surveys used for BARB’s TV audience reporting, while RSMB is behind the methodology.
ISBA said this first stage, which centred on the application of the virtual ID model to panel-based TV data, “passed all the key tests, with performance generally exceeding expectations”.
Furthermore, ISBA said, the tests provided “important evidence” that the model should work successfully across digital publishers, including scenarios where cookie identifiers may not be present.
RSMB’s evaluation said: “Results were encouraging in all methods, broadly conserving systematic variations in TV campaign reach across channels within the Virtual ID model.
“The preservation of reach suggests potential for the model to work well across TV and website campaigns, as well as website campaigns themselves…”
Origin moving forward with ‘even more enthusiasm’
Origin is now carrying out further evaluations that look at model applications across TV and digital with these results due at the end of Q3.
Joe Lewis, Origin Research Lead, added: “The work conducted by RSMB is an important stamp of reassurance that the methodology we’re building is fit for purpose. We’ve taken a TV first approach to our evaluation, to answer the question of whether the methodology will enable us to integrate broadcast linear television, and it is very pleasing to report that it does.
“The virtual ID model is successful at both preserving correlations in TV behaviours and estimates overall. We will not rest on our laurels and there is more work to be done, but it is fair to say these results are better than we expected and we move forward with even more enthusiasm and momentum than before.”
Origin is an attempt to create a single measurement method for reach and frequency across different media channels that advertisers can use. All the major digital platforms, including Facebook, Google and Amazon, are part of Origin, as are more than two-dozen UK advertisers including Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Mars and BT.
However, the TV broadcasters have thus far been reluctant to join brands as full funding members for the first two phases of Origin, which means providing the money for research and development.
From the outset, senior broadcast executives have been hesitant to fully support a project that, in their view, equates independently-verified UK TV audience ratings with self-reported numbers given on Google and Facebook’s platforms.
Supporters of Origin, meanwhile, insist that the new tool will enable marketers to filter for “TV-like metrics”.
