GARM Gone

Others have had their fun pointing out how little Musk knows about the ad business but his comments and the video posted by his CEO Linda Yaccarino who you would think would know a thing or two do seem to be rooted in some fundamental differences between the ad business here and elsewhere and the USAFirst there is the belief that bigger simply must equal betterThe US media market has always tended to be a buying as opposed to a planning market In buying markets bigger audiences always mean more revenueIn many places weamp8217ve moved on from amp8216biggest equalling bestamp8217 without any further discussion being requiredThe notion of planning campaigns around a set of quality metrics and then buying against those metrics is simply not how it has traditionally been done in the US modelThis explains why the US is I think the only major media market where audiences on TV are reported not by commercial break but by programme within which the commercial break appearsIf the unit was the commercial break the gross number may go down And that would never do amp8211 even if it reflected realityThe fact that the media market has changed out of all recognition is not the point the point is the continued focus on the biggest numbersI imagine Musk and Yaccarino find it hard to conceive that advertisers donamp8217t just automatically go after the biggest numbers whatever the circumstances Whether the context is relevant to a brandamp8217s needs socially acceptable whether the numbers are botdriven all of these are to a greater or lesser degree not part of their conversationX and before it Twitter has never been particularly important for advertisers The format isnamp8217t conducive to showcasing great work the audience is neither particular large in the context of othersamp8217 plus itamp8217s easily reached elsewhere And the surrounding amp8216editorialamp8217 has always been controversialWhat about freedom of expression a term used on both sides of the Atlantic to mean different things as Bruce Daisley ex of Twitter pointed out this week in amp8216The Guardianamp8217If you want to exercise your freedom of expression within the law on X then good for you But advertisers are free to advertise where they think most appropriate to meet their objectives and needsOften that place isnamp8217t XThe second difference between the media markets is that the US has often struggled with the concept of collaboration between competing partiesTake audience measurement Whereas most major ad markets operate a system within which research is commissioned and managed via a collaboration of all interested parties the US does things differentlyTake TV where Nielsen has for many years had the major contract There has always been a quoted antitrust issue that stops the industry collaborating fully to commission one source of audience truth Whether this is a real issue or something confected decades ago by Nielsen and never challenged is a moot pointTo an outsider like me the US measurement industry has never seemed to move at the pace of other markets because of a an obsession that only big numbers count and thus anything reducing the headline number is undesirable and b a belief that collaboration is somehow anticompetitiveThis is finally changing slowly Attention as a factor has emerged socalled alternative currencies which are neither alternative alternative to what nor currencies surely you can only have one base currency at least have broadened the debateMeantime back in the land of the great suer anyone whoamp8217s ever had anything to do with advertiser trade bodies will know that the very idea that they can somehow insist that advertisers act in concert in how and with whom they trade is delusionalWhat trade bodies do is lobby governments set standards organise studies and all manner of other activities that raise the bar for all Theyamp8217re frequently infuriating amp8216why does everything take so longamp8217 and inevitably underfunded The fact they work at all is down not only to the talents of those employed by them but also to an army of volunteers who do a sterling unsung job for nothingNot only is Muskamp8217s legal action against the WFA absurd and I suspect wonamp8217t work as he intends but it is also damaging to the industry It could lead to advertisers thinking twice before joining any association whose goal is to collaborate for the greater goodIt will make the job of those working selflessly for the industry harderThis is a complicated industry far more complicated than amp8216the biggest number winsamp8217 We need representation in front of power and standards agreed by all and applied consistently in order to instil confidence in those who ultimately pay for everythingEvery boat even X rises on a rising tidePosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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