Nielsen's daily digital ratings could evolve how some digital media is traded, how agencies work with publishers and build a stronger case for investment in mobile marketing.
That's the verdict from a handful of media agency investment and digital chiefs, who described this week's launch of digital content ratings (DCR) as a significant evolution for digital media.
At the very least the new metrics should help media planning and targeting by providing more granular data about consumer behaviour throughout the day.
“There's been some criticism in the past about a lack of digital measurement so this is a great step forward and we're the first market in the world,” Carat chief digital officer Sarah James tells AdNews.
“Ultimately this allows us to unlock more data and insights to better plan our campaigns and help our clients better connect to consumers.”
Digital publishers and platforms have been able to measure daily audience metrics on their own platforms but the industry has lacked an industry-wide solution.
Shining a light on mobile
James says the independence the IAB and Nielsen provides should not be overlooked in a channel where certain players have been accused of marking their own homework and lacking transparency.
The metrics have other important benefits. They will allow the market to see publishers on and off platform traffic as well as measure digital consumers across multiple devices.
“What I'm most excited about is the incorporation of cross-device measurement, which is something we haven't had the capability to measure before,” she says.
“The fact we are seeing such huge consumption across devices yet we haven't been able to measure cross-device has potentially led to an under investment in mobile channel. Any advancements in this space are welcome, it's key for us as an industry.”
Maxus national head of investment Ricky Chanana describes the roll out of DCR as a positive development for everyone in the industry.
“It gives you a full view of downstream traffic, of off deck and on deck and then you can go back to a client with an audience view, looking at where your audience is going rather than just a platform view,” he says.
Striking a better deal
Publisher audience figures should be amplified once off platform data on social media and search is added to on platform figures.
On Monday, News Corp chief digital officer Nicole Sheffield ruled out publishers being be able to directly commercialise off platform audiences but believes DCR puts them in stronger position to renegotiate better revenue sharing arrangements in the future.
Chanana believes the key for publishers will be proving to social media platforms that their content not only drives a higher viewership, but also provides more advertising opportunities – in other words linking audience to consumption.
“You can't negotiate more leverage if the advertising impact due of the higher viewership is none,” he says. “There has to be a link between how this is driving better results.”
A new trading model?
Carat's chief investment officer Ashley Earnshaw tells AdNews DCR will evolve how the media agency works with publishers.
“I do see this as a significant development,” he says. “The insights we gain from it will enable us to be even more strategic with my clients' campaigns, particularly in how we target audiences,” he says.
“This does give us the opportunity to change the way we trade with some of our digital partners.”
This level of granularity to pinpoint when and where a consumer is likely to be in the digital ecosystem is highly valuable to media planners and marketers competing for cut through in an increasingly fragmented media market.
DCR should allow publishers to trade on day parts and adjust pricing to reflect consumption peaks and troughs.
The obvious example where this would work is selling against or around coverage of major events, such as sports finals, fashion week, or food festivals.
Both media investment chiefs believe DCR allows for a more flexible trading model but Chanana points out this may not happen across all forms of digital advertising.
“Where clients are moving TV money into online video and they are trying to replicate that audio visual experience, day parting will make sense, but not so much from a display and content perspective, which has its own buying ecosystem," he says.
“That's where the money will be going, into programmatic and catch-up TV and clients will want to replicate that advertising experience instream (within the video frame), not outstream.”
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