Getting the broadcasters and Big Tech companies to adopt common standards for cross-media audience measurement is like asking Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer to be joint prime ministers, the Future of TV Advertising Global conference heard.
Despite the panel featuring major UK advertisers Direct Line (Sam Taylor, head of group marketing) and L’Oréal (Gayle Noah, media director) being in “violent agreement” that Project Origin, ISBA’s proposed cross-media measurement solution, should happen, the practical problems of making it reality also came to the fore.
Alex Debenham-Burton, a senior buyer for WPP agency Essence, agreed that cross-media measurement is a “key area” for the industry, but added he worried about “the politics”.
TV broadcasters have privately expressed doubts about the prospect of Origin, whose ultimate goal is to provide a single audience measurement solution for advertiser spend on linear TV, video-on-demand, social media and other digital media formats.
Crucially, cross-media measurement needs to ensure audiences are not double-counted and that ad formats can be measured on an level playing field e.g. a 30-second TV ad audience can be fairly compared to a YouTube or TikTok video impression for the same ad campaign.
“My biggest concern is the politics,” Debenham-Burton told the panel yesterday. “It’s a bit like saying to Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer, ‘what about becoming joint prime ministers for a few years?’
“Whether or not the broadcasters or Google and Facebook can all agree and commit to it in terms of the methodology, whether we’re talking about views or impressions…. I totally agree that I want us to get there but I’m a bit of a cynic.”
While more than two dozen major UK advertisers are financially backing and encouraging ISBA to progress with Origin’s development, the TV broadcasters have questioned why their audiences, which are independently measured by BARB, should be considered equivalent to Google and Facebook’s self-reported metrics.
Jaidev Kakar, director of advertiser solutions at PubMatic, stressed it was important that the TV industry moves to a model that “buyers actually want”. He suggested that buyers should have an Amazon Prime-like one-click button for buying across connected TV, broadcast VOD and linear.
He added: “Everyone has walled garden measurement solution…. The industry is crying out for everyone to come together. Why not have independent JIC [joint industry committee] that makes sure everyone plays nicely in the sandbox?”
Taylor, who moderated the session, admitted that he used to believe the idea of cross-media measurement would be “too difficult”. The fact that Origin is now supposed to be conducting live trials soon, he added, is “beyond where I thought we’d get to”.
“What happens if we don’t do this [Project Origin]?” Taylor asked rhetorically.
Pictured, above, on-screen: Ruth Cartwright, investment director at Sky Media, and Debenham-Burton. On stage (L-R): Taylor, Noah and Kakar).
