GfK at the asi conferences 2021

Five days at the start of November, 11 panel sessions, 46 presentations, and over 300 media professionals from 43 countries. ASI 2021 delivered some truly thought-provoking discussions and debates about the present and future shape of media and its measurement. GfK is proud to have contributed six presentations to the event which was jam-packed with high quality and seriously exciting insights into the now and next of our dynamic industry. This was the second virtual event, and we hope that the 2022 event will be live and face-to-face again.

The first day covered radio and audio developments. GfK’s Deb Hishon, Media Measurement Director in Australia and New Zealand presented with her client, Joan Warner, CEO of Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), on the evolution of Australia’s Radio Audience Measurement system. In 2022, CRA and GfK will launch the biggest ever transformation to their audience measurement system - Radio360. The first iteration will maintain the robustness of the existing system, bring live streaming audiences into the currency, and employ a true first for Australia, the establishment of a Wearables meter panel.

In a further presentation with a similar objective, Giorgio Licastro, GfK’s Media Measurement Lead in Italy, anticipated the possible end of the conflict between traditional and passively metered Radio Audience Measurement. He described a project launched with client radio stations, such as the public broadcaster RAI, which uses both measurements as they co-exist in the market in a hybrid approach. This means employing traditional quarterly CATI data as “the truth” in terms of daily reach figures and the electronically measured data on a weekly frequency as “the trend” in between the two releases of the CATI data.

On day three the focus was innovation in advertising and its accountability. Roland Abold, VP of Sales and Commercial Excellence at GfK presented the highlights and a summary of our annual Round Table with experts in media, advertising, research, and data. In his session he asked the big question – is advertising heading for a crisis of audience reach?

Later this day, Torsten Müller-Klockmann of Facebook and GfK’s Tristan Helmreich presented a meta study of an analysis of 40 ad campaigns which examines the differences in the performance and impact of TV campaigns and those on social media. The conclusion: Facebook and Instagram drive efficient and effective reach in high value target groups. In other words, these media work exceptionally well together with TV by strengthening the overall campaign results in just the right spots.

Day four was entitled “Panels – the second coming?”. This concentrated on the reincarnation of panel measurement in the light of the decline of third-party cookies and the enhancement of panels using ‘big’ first party data. During the day, GfK’s John Carroll, Global Director of Business Development, and MMS’ Head of Media Measurement Danielle Aldén, outlined why the Swedish media industry needed a new modelling approach for their online video currency. This is what GfK and MMS have achieved in close collaboration. They discussed what will happen as we progress to realizing the final goal of a Total Video Currency in 2022, for instance daily deliveries and modelling adaptations for new measurement data.

Finally, the last day was dedicated to Cross-Media Measurement, showcasing several markets where we see how silo currencies are gradually becoming multimedia operations. GfK attended a session where measurement suppliers were asked if they expected to remain essential in a future where the digital delivery of content and ads delivers mass availability of first-party audience data.

GfK’s Rolf Müller, Global Director of Business Development, argued that with its heritage of more than a decade of genuine cross-media measurement, its adoption of agile technology development processes, the implementation of data science skills and its huge media expertise and investment, GfK will continue to be at the forefront of measuring people and their behavior as an independent and trusted agent for the industry’s stakeholders. We’ll be here whatever the future of media brings!

Please contact Rolf if you’d like to see a specific presentation or learn more about GfK’s Media Measurement solutions.