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The future of media measurement is a very hot topic right now. So, in association with IAB Europe, we invited industry representatives from a wide range of companies to a Round Table discussion on how media measurement might look in five years’ time. Participants included: digital platforms Google, Facebook and Oath; global ad agencies Publicis and Dentsu; media owners from broadcast TV and digital; a programmatic audience platform; a national advertising association and a large national JIC (Joint Industry Committee).
Media currencies form the cornerstone of media trading, they provide a value to the media inventory that is bought and sold across TV, digital and a plethora of other platforms.
However, are traditional currency systems being replaced by automated bidding? Is the media planner being replaced by an algorithm? And in the process will target groups become “identity graphs” of attributes, sometimes down to the individual level?
In the future will there still be a requirement for Joint Industry Committees (JICs) to provide trusted, standardized measurement for the advertising trade? Or will tech and data providers create a new world with scalable, cost efficient technologies which are faster, more flexible and more tightly targeted?
Issues facing the media measurement industry
Despite rapid advances in tech, the industry has been dogged by issues of trust, transparency, fraud and a high reliance on a few digital platform players with a lot of power. There have been calls for higher transparency and better orchestration in the data world, most notably by the P&G CMO Mark Pritchard. And more recently Martin Cass at Advertising Week.
It is high time to pause for a moment and reflect. Is neutral arbitration in the media industry not needed any more due to disruptive technology and the rise of data? Will chaos, ruled by smart, quick but unregulated systems replace order? That’s the discussion we are having. As a leading media measurement company, our future is linked to the industry, so this goes to the core of what we and the industry are about.
We created a white paper to summarize our roundtable discussion. You can read more here to discover more about three scenarios outlined for the future:
- The rise of the “Super JIC” as reinvigorated, neutral data arbiters
- Chaos replaces order, with data being controlled by different competing entities large and small
- Technological self-regulation of data, likely in the form of an adaptation of Blockchain technology
We also discuss the role of media planner in these scenarios and ultimately what this will mean for consumers, who are likely to have more control and will expect to be paid for their data.
The future of media currencies is still very much open, but one thing that is clear: the proliferation of many types of data means that media planning as we know it today will be enhanced and replaced. The question as to what will fill that void is answered by our group’s three possible future scenarios.
“The way people are paying for consumption will change radically, be that by blockchain, or usage of a brand and delivery of content.”
-Simon Halstead, Oath
“In five years’ time, we need to look at why we are using Reach currencies. In essence, they are a compromise. Reach planning won’t exist, either, because Effect planning is already rising sharply, or it will be used less and less. Planning can certainly be done on Effect currencies.”
-Walter Flaat, Dentsu
