Ad agencies know that old-style TV measurement panels are not sufficient to support the addressable TV future. The problem is, TV platform operators are not giving them the data they need either.
A panel debate convened by Beet.TV heard agency executives responsible for new-wave connected TV targeting were bearish on the suitability of traditional measurement firms for the new era, even as they launch ambitious cross-screen measurement initiatives.
“This whole idea that 100mn people watch the same as 20,000? Ridiculous!” said MODI Media president Mike Bologna, part of Group M.
And Publicis Groupe Media advanced TV EVP Tracey Scheppach agreed: “I don’t know why we would use a sample. We just need the data to show. Nielsen has no role in what addressable television is all about. This is a complete Rentrak/comScore game – I don’t see Nielsen in this at all.”
Which would be just fine – if the agencies were getting what they wanted from the horse’s mouth, direct from the advanced TV platforms whose customer data could be the hyper-accurate fuel for ad targeting.
Scheppach has long called on TV operators to cough up more of that data, so that she can spend more money on ads with them. In this panel, she accused them of “hoarding” it.
And MODI’s Bologna agreed. “They all have that same disease,” they said. “If it were my data and I owned it, I would probably sit on it, too, until I figured out how to monetize it.”
Bologna clarified that, whilst he can buy straightforward campaigns executed with those operators, he is not being given the data that could also help optimize his campaign with other ad platforms.
IPG’s Cadreon advanced TV VP Amy DeHaen said TV operators are advancing only “within their own safety net”: “This space is so new, there’s no way for someone to feel on solid ground to make that decision.”
The session was moderated by Matt Spiegel, SVP of MediaLink.
This video was produced at the Beet.TV leadership summit in New York on cross-platform addressability on July 26. The event and the series is presented by DISH Media Sales and Experian Marketing Services. Please visit this page to find addition videos from the summit.
