Though the phrases “measurement” and “foreign money” are sometimes used interchangeably in TV land, they’re not the identical, and the distinction issues.
Measurement is any set of metrics that decide how an advert performs, akin to attain, frequency and gross sales. Foreign money is the monetary unit of worth for purchasing and promoting TV advertisements based mostly on measurement knowledge.
Some types of measurement, akin to attain and frequency, can turn out to be a foreign money when consumers and sellers conform to transact actual {dollars} in opposition to it – however not all measurement could make that leap.
This distinction additionally means measurement and foreign money require totally different requirements and have totally different use circumstances.
“Consider foreign money because the tip of the measurement iceberg,” stated Ramsey McGrory, chief improvement officer at Mediaocean.
Occasions are a-changin’
Understanding this distinction didn’t matter a lot till not too long ago.
For many years, Nielsen was the one TV foreign money, and it saved its spot regardless of the delivery of latest TV measurement corporations over the previous decade or so, together with VideoAmp, iSpot and Samba. It was solely when the century-old incumbent stumbled and undercounted audiences throughout the pandemic – and misplaced its nationwide and native TV measurement accreditation from the Media Ranking Council (MRC) in consequence – that broadcasters and TV advertisers seemed to different distributors for a greater foundation of transaction.
The cries for consistency in TV measurement are solely getting louder, which is why a joint business committee (JIC) of broadcasters shaped earlier this yr to set requirements for brand new video currencies.
“What began off as a dialog about measurement is now a dialog about foreign money,” stated Helen Katz, EVP of analysis at Publicis Media.
In mid-April, Nielsen lastly received again MRC accreditation for its nationwide TV rankings. (It’s nonetheless engaged on native.) However within the meantime, Nielsen’s throne had been vacant for over a yr, and different measurement suppliers used that point to construct bridges with broadcasters.
In the present day, Nielsen is only one of many being contemplating for foreign money standing.
Now that the business is seeking to crown a number of new video currencies, it’s extra essential than ever to grasp the distinction between measurement and foreign money, Katz stated.
Victors within the foreign money wars will type the premise for billions of {dollars} in media transactions yearly.
What makes a foreign money?
Measurement is a really broad class. It could possibly embrace nearly any knowledge set that displays how campaigns carry out, starting from incremental attain and gross sales to consideration and feelings.
Foreign money, alternatively, determines how media is priced and subsequently should be based mostly on measurement that’s constant sufficient to reliably forecast future campaigns. The necessity for predictability is why the necessities for what constitutes a foreign money are a lot increased than for measurement, stated David Levy, CEO of OpenAP, the info activation platform behind the brand new JIC.
This increased stage of stringency can also be why the JIC is engaged on requirements for brand new video currencies that consider distributors for the steadiness of their knowledge, particularly in counting audiences.
The JIC’s first go at requirements require that currencies use huge knowledge units which might be nationally consultant, with restricted reliance on panels, that are too small to be census consultant. Based on the JIC’s guidelines, any foreign money that makes marketing campaign projections “representing lower than 10% of the universe” should disclose that reality. (No surprise Nielsen disagrees with the JIC – for all its speak about utilizing extra huge knowledge, Nielsen nonetheless depends very closely on its panels.)
Foreign money distributors should additionally present full transparency into how they deduplicate audiences and what their match charges are. Plus, they need to be built-in with Mediaocean and WideOrbit for secure knowledge sharing with programmers and businesses.
Standardization of foreign money necessities is a necessity for businesses to justify which distributors they’re prepared to spend marketing campaign {dollars} in opposition to, Publicis Media’s Katz stated.
Measurement mania
Particularly, foreign money depends on steady viewers knowledge that may forecast the attain and frequency of TV campaigns.
Whereas there are a number of types of measurement which might be helpful for figuring out how an advert carried out past counting impressions, they’re not steady sufficient to foretell future campaigns and subsequently don’t make the reduce as the premise for a foreign money.
For instance, measuring an viewers’s response to an advert is way more durable to regulate and thus so much much less predictable, stated Jon Watts, managing director of the Coalition for Modern Media Measurement. In different phrases, a foreign money can assure {that a} purchaser will attain a particular viewers – and even what number of occasions – however it could possibly’t assure what motion that viewers will take in consequence.
This lack of predictability is why measurement based mostly on outcomes and a spotlight are simply that: measurement, not foreign money.
Setting requirements
However simply because measurement alone can’t be used to worth media stock doesn’t imply it could possibly’t be standardized.
The Media Ranking Council conducts third-party audits of measurement companies to verify they’re dependable sufficient for advertisers to make use of and units fundamental requirements for measurement, together with defining impressions.
Companies look to the MRC for stability in defining what counts as an impression.
The MRC’s auditing course of is rigorous – simply take a look at how lengthy it took Nielsen to win again solely a chunk of its accreditation – which is why its methodology helped arrange the rankings large because the go-to TV foreign money for therefore many a long time, stated George Ivie, CEO of the MRC.
However the MRC doesn’t crown foreign money suppliers. That’s as much as the promoting business.
Operation foreign money
At this level, the TV advert business’s want for dependable foreign money is so dire that it’s largely skipping over MRC accreditation and expediting the method of getting ready different measurement distributors for actual transactions à la the JIC.
The MRC evaluates the measurement means of distributors extra intensely than the JIC, in accordance with Ivie. However the JIC is the group that’s constructing infrastructure for programmers and businesses to match their very own knowledge with that of measurement currencies with plans to make use of these matches to transact.
Though none of Nielsen’s rivals seem like prioritizing MRC accreditation, broadcasters aren’t letting that decelerate the method.
The JIC is creating its personal set of requirements and a certification program for brand new video currencies. Paramount, one of many broadcasters that helped type the JIC, additionally has a template of its personal for use them.
Traversing transition
Regardless of the urgency, nevertheless, the business isn’t able to transact on non-Nielsen currencies at a comparable scale.
Most programmers are taking tentative steps in that course, beginning with utilizing these new potential currencies as measurement first.
In contrast with foreign money, it’s faster to begin utilizing alt measurement as a result of the stakes are decrease. Measurement alone doesn’t instantly decide the pricing or worth of stock.
Disney, for instance, is utilizing some alt measurement suppliers for incremental attain and frequency this yr – but it surely’s not truly transacting on these measurement distributors as foreign money (but).
From a foreign money standpoint, “nobody can presently ship another view to Nielsen [that’s equally] inclusive of native [TV viewing],” stated Lisa Valentino, EVP of shopper options and addressable enablement at Disney.
The business shouldn’t be speeding to transact on a foreign money if its measurement is both incomplete or inaccurate, Valentino added.
Nonetheless, Disney, which isn’t but part of the JIC, expects the business to get to a spot the place it could possibly moderately transact on a wide range of currencies relying on the enterprise wants of shoppers, akin to specializing in superior audiences, for instance, or co-viewing.
These wants are why Valentino stated Disney works instantly with greater than 100 measurement distributors. Despite the fact that Disney isn’t transacting on alt currencies but, some non-Nielsen distributors will help Disney’s measurement choices throughout the upfronts this yr, together with VideoAmp, Samba and EDO.
The street forward
Usually talking, the TV advert business remains to be very a lot in the midst of its transition towards utilizing the simplest of those alt measurement choices as foreign money.
Purchasers need to have the ability to purchase their advertisements based mostly on higher measurement, not simply panel-based rankings, stated Kelly Abcarian, EVP of measurement and influence at NBCUniversal.
NBCU is certainly one of many programmers promising consumers the choice to transact on non-Nielsen foreign money throughout this yr’s upfronts. Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount are doing the identical.
The demand for alt currencies will solely proceed to pattern upward, Abcarian stated.
“By no means [again] ought to a single [measurement] companion be the one TV foreign money.”
