A true cross-media measurement solution in Australia may be more pipe dream than practicality.
While the dream of agencies for a system able to measure reach and frequency across any medium - be it television, radio, out-of-home, online or otherwise - may be impossible to achieve, the 'screens' space may be the best fit for a test case.
That would involve measuring viewership figures across free-to-air television and connected TV (CTV), which includes not only BVOD, SVOD, AVOD and FAST but also global streamers such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video along with platforms like YouTube.
Internationally, there are cross-media models in different stages of development and rollout, including the World Federation of Advertisers’ Halo, the US-based Association of National Advertisers’ Aquila and the UK-based ISBA’s Origin.
Origin may be most akin to what marketers are asking for today, as it's able to measure deduplicated cross-media reach and frequency across linear TV, digital video and digital display. Subsequent developments will see the introduction of outcomes based measurement (sales, brand-lift, attention), as well as being able to measure additional media channels across the advertising ecosystem (such as audio, OOH).
The local hurdles to adopting such a system lie in the fragmentation of the Australian market, combined with its smaller size in comparison to overseas counterparts and a landscape dominated by a few key publishers, according to media agencies AdNews spoke to.
Some see hope on the horizon. Awaken CEO Chris Parker said that the introduction of OzTAM’s total TV measurement system VOZ was a significant step forward and got the industry excited with Total TV numbers.
“It shows that there is a hunger for more comprehensive measurement solutions, but achieving a cross-media measurement system similar to the UK’s Origin is a bit of a ‘pipe dream’ until advertisers drive the conversation by connecting spend to cross-channel performance,” he said.
“In the meantime, the industry must focus on incremental improvements and collaboration among local players.”
Parker said that while Australia may not have the same leverage as larger markets, the industry can still push for innovations that better align with the unique landscape on offer here, with OzTAM doing this across screens already.
“The future of cross-media measurement in Australia depends on our ability to adapt and integrate new technologies while advertisers drive the conversation with their budgets,” he told AdNews.
Magnite’s director of platforms, Maddy Mewing, said that for a cross-media measurement standard to be successful here, there can’t be one party that benefits more than another.
“We have to look at the issue holistically to find a middle path that benefits media owners who bring high-quality inventory to the mix as well as buyers who are investing in advertising,” she said.
“The significant strides that the Australian market has made through VOZ show the willingness of industry leaders to collaborate. Optimistically, the Australian market could be the one that sets the bar high for other markets to follow.”
Avenue C’s managing partner, Daniel Cutrone, said the main reason why cross-media measurement hasn’t happened yet is that the commercial platforms have previously benefited from growth in advertising spend, and therefore there have been a reluctance to share data.
“However, as the market is entering a tougher climate this may be the time when the industry comes together to build something unique for all to benefit from,” he said.
“As the ease of access improves, and SME advertisers begin to scale, TV networks will see the most upside from this, benefitting from credible, brand building platforms which was previously a barrier.”
VOZ could be an example for the industry to follow
OzTAM’s VOZ, arriving at the end of this year, may be the testbed for how such a measurement system could get started in this country.
It brings together OzTAM’s metro TV data, regional TAM’s regional TV data, and OzTAM’s BVOD viewing into one de-duplicated database, measuring all free-to-air and subscription TV networks.
Produced and delivered by Nielsen, VOZ will provide cross-platform reach and frequency numbers across broadcast TV and BVOD, while also introducing a currency for BVOD viewing, including co-viewing on connected TVs.
VOZ Streaming, which is also set to arrive in Q4 of this year, will enable advertisers to aggregate the scale of free-to-air BVOD services while managing reach and frequency across participating platforms.
OzTAM CEO Karen Halligan agreed that there is an obvious appetite for a holistic, cross-media measurement solution from clients and agencies, with the industry body being “very supportive” of steps taken toward achieving this as optimising client investments is paramount.
“VOZ is already delivering a national, de-duplicated solution for broadcaster TV and BVOD and it has been designed to evolve with the video ecosystem. It is technically capable of measuring any or all video platforms,” she said.
“We would welcome discussions with other video services that can commit to the same transparency, rigour and accountability encapsulated in our measurement principles”
To a degree, this has already started: Ipsos partnered with OzTAM back in February to integrate BVOD metrics into Ipsos iris, providing cross-channel video audience measurement across multiple devices and content types.
As a result, free-to-air TV networks will be able to provide a complete audience sizing for their digital video and media assets in a trusted currency environment. It also allows media planners to combine and compare BVOD audiences across devices, including connected TV sets (CTVs), with the breadth of media brand audiences measured by Ipsos iris.
Media owners and agencies are able to view the incremental reach of BVOD audiences when added to web and app audiences across all devices in the Ipsos iris platform. It will also enable direct comparisons of audience profiles across all devices and content genres for BVOD audiences, compared to both web and app audiences.
Halligan said that this area is an increasingly complex environment, however, and any cross-media measurement solution will require significant investment in infrastructure, people and technology to produce robust, transparent, and independent data.
“It would also require strong industry wide collaboration, which to date has been hard to achieve,” she said.
“A better understanding of cross media effectiveness and the role that different video formats play would benefit the total ecosystem and grow investment into a total video proposition, but we need to remember that the effectiveness of any channel drives investment.
“Money is not just moving between video formats; it is being allocated across different channels and also into marketing technology. Having a strong total video measurement solution connected to effectiveness would help us all to gain share of marketing spend.”
Lack of urgency and conflicts of interest roadblocks to adoption
Prophesy Digital’s digital media strategist, Mehrak Saheb, said that as an advanced media market, Australia is more than ready for cross-media measurement, with advertisers clambering for platforms that offer clarity on where their ad dollars are most effective.
“So why haven’t we seen it happen? The reality is that the cross-media measurement story is closely tied to the shifting sands of video consumption and TV viewing habits,” she said.
“The battle lines are drawn between the old guard - traditional TV networks - and the new kids on the block - YouTube, Meta, and other digital platforms. Each wants a bigger slice of the limited video advertising pie, and that’s creating a standoff.”
Saheb said that the introduction of such a system is not about market readiness or advertiser willingness - it’s more to do with the politics and the conflicting interests of the heavyweights who need to play ball.
“Take Meta, for instance - their platform thrives on goal-oriented campaign results, not traditional reach and frequency metrics. The numbers from such metrics wouldn’t paint a rosy picture for them when stacked against YouTube or free-to-air TV,” she said.
“On the other hand, traditional TV networks are dealing with shrinking audiences. They’re understandably reluctant to put their numbers side by side with YouTube’s massive reach. It’s not in their best interests to participate in a measurement system that could put them at a disadvantage.”
Yango’s managing partner, Nick Murdoch, said that frequency capping and de-duplicating would mark a significant step forward in improving the efficiency of screen buys, but that from his perspective, it seems the platforms don’t share the same level of urgency to address the vagaries and lack of transparency that currently exist.
“Agencies and advertisers have always argued to the media that better measurement will mean more ad spend, but for YouTube, is that really the case? Do they care?” he told AdNews.
“There is no incentive for YouTube to facilitate this type of measurement; the ad dollars are flowing in just fine, and they are notoriously protective of their platform data, especially with third parties measuring it.
“It seems this is an example of growing pains in what is a rapidly evolving media landscape. In an increasingly platform driven media world, with walled gardens around every corner, fragmentation has really taken hold and it's creating hurdles for the industry to get over.”
Yahoo’s director of commercial and platforms AUSEA, Andrew Gilbert, said that the reality is that cross-media measurement solutions exist already, but each one is dependent on their own understanding of what metrics matter most to marketers.
“There will never be a solution that solves full funnel cross-media measurement covering every metric that marketers want from brand lift or attention to e-commerce or full sales lift,” he said.
It isn’t all doom and gloom, though – Gilbert said if marketers understand their primary objectives, they can get the overall read on marketing effectiveness with a layered approach, using different technology options that are already in market.
“This is where most brands or agencies have moved to already,” he said.
“When we start to peer into the world of screens, where total reach and incremental reach are gospel, we know that the market has already shifted to a state where alternative measurement solutions are relied on next to OzTam and VOZ in order to understand the full picture of TV.”
Yahoo’s own Unified TV solution is an example of this – it includes a view of the Total TV world outside of YouTube, in addition to how other channels provide incremental reach to linear television.
“If we get closer to the area of marketing impact on sales, the resurgence of marketing mix modelling approaches has been welcomed with open arms as their evolution has provided solutions to the question of which of my marketing channels and suppliers are having the greatest impact long term. These solutions have proven successful in the face of an ever-fragmenting media world,” he said.
Foxtel: the journey to cross-measurement "will be a long one"
Multiple measurement systems aren’t a new concept to the Australian market – Foxtel Media introduced their own audience measurement service at their Upfronts in October in a partnership with Kantar, ingesting data collected from subscribers’ set top boxes using return path data technology.
The solution incorporates data validation, processing, demographic mapping, capping (adjusting long viewing sessions into realistic viewing levels) and quality control.
While OzTAM said the entry of another measurement system “poses the risk of confusion in the market”, OMG was an early adopter, saying Foxtel's service will provide a granular understanding of pay-TV consumption and subscriber behaviour.
Elsewhere, Foxtel Media also launched a think tank, the Video Futures Collective, to explore advertising in the Australian digital video and streaming landscape.
Initial members, comprised of Foxtel Media, YouTube, Samsung Ads, Disney Advertising and SBS, have three areas of investigation: building consensus on streaming video basics, exploring innovation across measurement models and investigating closer integration with agencies around planning and buying.
Foxtel Media CEO Mark Frain said that he believes a lot needs to happen before the industry is truly ready for a true single cross-media measurement solution, but that doesn't mean meaningful steps can’t be taken towards it, big or small.
“From a video perspective, we don’t have a single industry measure that can effectively and accurately measure TV viewing across linear and streaming, let alone other media. While a single cross-media measurement solution may be the ultimate goal, the journey there will be a long one,” he told AdNews.
Frain said that it’s not all doom and gloom, however – the Foxtel Media chief noted that media agencies are adept at juggling multiple data sources and metrics, and at the same time, media companies have more first-party data than ever before, along with more granular access to comprehensive viewing data.
“The onus is on us to use everything we can to produce the best results for agencies and brands alike,” he said.
“Having different measurement metrics hasn’t stopped anyone from adding Meta or Google onto their plans, nor has it stopped the UK and the US markets from using multiple currency ecosystems for TV and video for years.”
Australia needs a different approach from other markets
IAB Australia CEO Gai Le Roy said that when cross media measurement is mentioned, people often jump to an image of a comprehensive industry wide ‘bells and whistles solution’ along the lines of the vision outlined for WFA’s Halo or ISBA’s Origin projects.
While both these projects are important for the global advertising industry, and no doubt local media agency chiefs are watching what’s unfolding oversease closely, Le Roy cautioned that such initiatives have been many years in the making and have so far cost tens of millions of dollars.
“While Australia will definitely benefit from some of the frameworks and protocols from these projects, as a smaller market, we may need to take a different approach,” she said.
“From an audience measurement perspective there have been significant moves towards cross media measurement with the integration of OzTAM’s BVOD as well as YouTube data into the official digital ratings currency Ipsos iris and coverage across video players will continue to expand.
“IAB and Ipsos will continue to review ways and opportunities to ensure the industry digital ratings system provides data that will enhance cross media measurement in the local market.”
Le Roy said that advertisers and agencies have always attempted to take a holistic view of the success of their activity whether by market mix modelling, experimentation, or other custom methods.
Increasingly rich data sets and sophisticated systems, she said, are providing marketers with faster, cheaper, and more accurate methods of measurement.
“While in any assessment of activity there will be formats, environments and creative that perform better than others, there is unlikely to ever be a market-wide “winners and losers” situation with regard to cross media measurement,” she told AdNews.
“I have confidence that the Australian market will continue to evolve and find ways for advertisers to understand the opportunity and impact of investment across media channels.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.