Why True Cross-Platform Measurement Is Still Elusive: #BeetU, Session 3

Welcome to #BeetU – our weekly educational series for advertising and media during the COVID-19 crisis, hosted by Ashley Swartz, CEO of Furious Corp, longtime Beet contributor and the Dean of #BeetU.

Using Furious’s comprehensive and interactive dictionary, TV101, as our guide, these sessions will unpack the terminology of advanced TV, serving as an introduction for some and a refresher for others.

So, whether a newcomer or a titan, we invite you to join us for this educational series during this reset – live-streamed Wednesdays at 1p ET on Andy’s LinkedIn and Ashley’s Twitter feed.

Session 3: Why True Cross-Platform Measurement Is Still Elusive

A decade ago, the Gross Rating Point (GRP) was still the unchallenged king of TV-buying metrics, but advertisers are no longer satisfied with metrics that only tell a story about reach. They want to buy TV the way they buy digital and measure ROI in terms of sales and conversions, but that’s still largely aspirational.

Another challenge publishers and advertisers are still trying to crack is figuring out how many individuals are really exposed to content — or ads — in the context of viewing behavior that’s spread over multiple devices per household.

New technologies have given rise to increasingly sophisticated targeting using demographic and psychographic attributes. But most TV is still measured using probabilistic modeling, a methodology for mapping devices to audience segments that relies on consumer panels assembled by Nielsen, Comscore and other data providers. It can tell advertisers that the audience viewing their ad is probably heavily comprised of working mothers in their forties in the Midwest or men in their twenties in large cities, for example.

Statistical modeling and predictive algorithms, which are populated via device fingerprinting, IP matching, location data and other information, can now be used to narrow down an audience.

Meanwhile, in the domain of online video, a lack of standards for delivery and measurement has created confusion in the marketplace and imposed challenges on advertisers, which may have the effect of curtailing spend. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has made an effort to impose standards, but they’re still a work in progress.