Defy Measurement Inertia: NBCU’s Abcarian Moves Beyond ‘Crappy Counting’

LOS ANGELES — If anyone wanted to understand the clamor to reinvent the TV ad measurement space, they need only look at the Lumascape-like graphic Kelly Abcarian presented at the recent Beet Retreat in Santa Monica.

Transformation is a journey—and if we’re ever going to get there, we’re going to need a map. So proud to share this first-of-its-kind view of the measurement landscape, and hope it can shape our journey towards a more accurate, interoperable future. #MeasurementInnovationForum pic.twitter.com/tPLrfmpAph

— Kelly Abcarian (@kellyabcarian) November 18, 2021

As EVP of measurement at NBCUniversal, the mass of logos represents Abcarian trying to stitch together a new way of measuring TV.

In this recorded discussion with Zach Rodgers at the retreat, Abcarian explained what’s going on.

After the RFP

In August, an exasperated NBCUniversal declared “measurement independence”, after Nielsen was accused of generating inaccurate results.

So Abcarian issued a “request for proposals” (RFP) for alternatives. More than responses later, NBCU has issued the first version of its new measurement framework.

TV Measurement Must Be More ‘Value-Based’: NBCUniversal’s Kelly Abcarian

“We all need to explore our options,” Abcarian says. “Today, we spend 90% of our investment with crappy counting and 10% on impact measurement. On digital, it’s the opposite of that. That is why we’re seeing money move out of television across to digital, because they spend 10% on counting and 90% on proving the value back to advertisers.

“It was an imperative to issue the RFP to solve that problem. As we issued that RFP, we got over a hundred responses across the vast industry of innovators willing to help us out, but we knew it was going to be really critically important that we simplified that.

“So I’m really excited that this week we introduced the version one measurement framework. and we did that in which to help bring simplicity to the process. And we know we’re going to refine this from here and we want to work. And we welcome the feedback from everyone in the industry to get it right.”

Ready to go

Abcarian was talking about NBCUniversal unveiled its own Measurement Innovation Forum and joined VAB’s Measurement Innovation Task Force.

At Beet Retreat, she revealed her three takeaways from the forum:

1. “Cross-platform measurement is ready to go. Now we don’t have to wait until 2024 to solve it as an industry.”
2. “The ability to measure at an ad level and with speed, the next day, like in digital is ready to go.”
3. “We know that, when we can see it all and accurately count it all, we see an increase in impressions as well as reach across the premium video marketplace.”