Change Happens Slowly

To put it another way change happens slowly then all at once It39s a leap from Hemingway to audience measurement but what we are witnessing is the acceleration of change following decades of not very much happening at allWe have become used to a system of collaboration In the UK and in almost every significant ad market bar the US this happens via the JIC modelInvite job candidates to apply live during the Media and Advertising Communityamp8217s Black Talent Outreach Week at MediaVillagecom and AdvancingDiversityorg October 1720 Apply for jobssubmit your resume hereamp160Everyone agrees on the principles then a research agency is hired to deliver Take BARB and its UK predecessor JICTAR The BBC and the commercial broadcasters had and still have different priorities from TV audience measurement One cares about advertisers the other couldn39t care less Yet on certain key principles like what defines a viewer both sides come together to agreeConsequently we have a system built around a rock The issue is not the rock but how to build around it we worry about technique not the structureThis is all fine as long as everyone involved plays the game and can agree on the principles But as soon as someone questions the rock all bets on the surrounding39s structural integrity are offThis is where we are nowThe erosion started slowly when some of the UK39s largest newspapers refused to publish independently collected sales numbersNoone much noticed or cared Newspapers are a thing of the past All anyone cares about is online impressions and clicks went the deeply fallacious argumentBut now things are speeding upThe major online platforms argue with some merit that the way in which video content on their platforms is viewed is different from large screen TV whether broadcast or not Further they39re different from each other YouTube does not equal TikTokIf people view these things differently it stands to reason that what counts as a viewer should also vary So why should Facebook Google and the rest join the BARB club and abide by its rules And why should BARB change its rules to accommodate those whose commercial success depends in part upon them proving that they39re an equivalent home for TV budgetsThere was a moment when there was talk of a JIC for online audience measurement but the idea never really caught on So we are now in a situation where everyone publishes their own numbers which are not as a matter of course independently verifiedThe result is unmanaged chaos and far too much time spent trying to fit together that which was never designed to fit togetherI see measurement of effect as a pyramid At the bottom is measuring how many people had an opportunity to see the material within which my ad appeared Then we go up stage by stage to the pinnacle which measures how many people saw my specific ad and then took action that commercially benefits the brandWe39re largely still stuck in the weeds at the bottom or maybe one or two up from the bottom of the pyramidCollaboration between video channels at a measurement currency level at the bottom of the pyramid has unsurprisingly proved impossible So it becomes essential we do everything we can to move the debate up several levelsThis advance needs to be advertiser driven which is why I am a fan of ISBA39s Origin initiative Personally I like the approach ISBA is taking but even if you quibble with the technical detail the vision of a commercial media industry where measurement is informed by advertiser needs seems to me unarguableThe alternative is to witness a collapse of collaboration in audience measurement To end up with competing systems that are not comparable and which hinder planning To have an industry driven not by a striving to understand overall outcomes and effect but by narrow parochial measurements designed to do one thing the one thing in question being that of greatest perceived commercial benefit to the sponsor of the research To spend time arguing the toss on why my measure beats your measure as opposed to working out how best to use this or that channel to my brand39s best advantageThe signs are that this is the way the US is going with multiple currencies In my view this is a mistakeI believe collaboration beats selfinterestClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160amp160

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Change Happens Slowly

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Brian Jacobs

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