Thinking of digital advertizing, a common association is of a space where things are highly transparent and measurable and ROI is relatively easily determined, as compared to more traditional media. Metrics are rampant as is data, and everyone is measuring every last click. I was surprised therefore, to see that a group of advertizing trade groups are advocating measures to make digital ad metrics better and (paraphrasing) "more like TV". You can read the press release.
Basically, the release comes down to five principles that have to be implemented to make comparisons between different on- and offline media more meaningful and help ad buyers make better decisions about allocating their entire marketing budget. The principles are:
Move to a “viewable impressions” standard and count real exposures online. Like Nielsen trying to adjust its metrics to account for DVR viewers fast-forwarding through commercials, ad metrics should consider how not all ads load completely or are evn seen by viewers of sites.
Online advertising must migrate to a currency based on audience impressions, not gross ad impressions. TV metrics are highly specialized, showing not rating points, but rating points in a particular demographic. The prevailing online metrics still deal with impressions, however, which make cross-media comparisons problematic.
Because all ad units are not created equal, we must create a transparent classification system. We touched upon this in class a few times: there are standards for different display ad sizes, but how do we value each type? Again, comparability aided by standardization is key here.
Determine interactivity “metrics that matter” for brand marketers, so that marketers can better evaluate online’s contribution to brand building.While click-through rates are great for ecommerce sites, more relevant brand-building metrics are not easy to compare across sites.
Digital media measurement must become increasingly comparable and integrated with other media.
Interesting to see some of the limitations of online measurement and the steps being taken to address them...
1 comment:
I get why online firms want to standardize metrics for media buyers but do media buyers and their clients really want a carbon copy of what they pay for offline? The whole premise of online advertising is accountability, which is sort of lacking in offline media despite ad sellers' efforts to count "impressions," share, etc. Maybe these efforts are really a response by Internet firms to the failure of highly targeted advertising to live up to early promises...
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