Audience Behavior

CHANGES IN AUDIENCE BEHAVIOR
Technology, social change and a global pandemic have accelerated some long-gestating changes in consumer behavior and in other cases disrupted established trend lines. Advertisers adapt to these changes quickly and where the money goes, so goes the measurement. What new consumer behaviors are being seen and what do they imply for the next rev of marketing? With audience segments moving to ad-free subscription-based media environments, is the link between advertising and media being broken? Or are audiences simply becoming more expensive to marketers because they are harder to assemble? How realistic are non-media options for advertising? Research is invited on the Big Picture changes in consumer behavior and the economics of media and advertising.

Cross-Platform Video Measurement

PROGRESS IN COUNTING NOSES IN CROSS-PLATFORM VIDEO MEASUREMENT

Most proposed cross-platform measurement solutions involve some combination of granular TV data (from Smart TVs and set top boxes) with granular usage data (from digital apps and sites owned by publishers). These two data streams get linked — in some versions by a person-level ID, and in others by a calibration panel. Designs have been proposed from different sectors of the industry, but consensus remains elusive. Many companies claim to be able to provide pieces of a solution, but how can they prove validity to a skeptical marketplace? Do any companies have a realistic wholistic solution? Can these solutions work both for measurement of ad exposures and of media content? Research is invited showing proof-of-concept demonstrations on the efficacy of different data integration approaches.

Audience Quality Measurement

PROGRESS IN MEASURING QUALITY OF AUDIENCES

While many argue that “an impression is an impression” others insist that not all audiences are created equal. Some are more attentive. More emotionally receptive. More aligned with the marketer’s style or values. Better suited to the marketer’s target. What new empirical evidence do we have that helps resolve the debate between these two positions? How can something as subjective as “audience quality” be measured objectively so that advertisers don’t simply have to take the word of the media sellers?

Getting Creative Right

PROGRESS IN GETTING AUDIENCES TO LIKE YOUR ADVERTISING

Though a subject of controversy for decades, the preponderance of evidence suggests that ad creative is critical and that ad likeability is key. In other words, it’s better to have ads that people like than ads that people dislike or barely notice. But there also is recent evidence of a decline in the power of ad creative — even as ad formats diversify and ad placements move into new nooks and crannies of human life. (Alexa, what did you just say?). How do conventional ads compare with influencer endorsements or user-generated content promoting brands? Research is invited on discerning good from bad advertising and on assessing responses to advertising in diverse settings.

Audience Measurement Beyond Video

PROGRESS ON MEASURING AUDIENCES BEYOND VIDEO

Though so much industry focus has been overcoming difficulties measuring video across a complex and fragmented landscape, we welcome contributions of new work measuring audiences for other media (print, audio, out-of-home) and measuring audiences in non-media environments.

Privacy and Truth Sets

PRIVACY AND TRUTH SETS

Most proposed cross-platform measurement solutions assume the ability to link data streams using some form of person-level ID. Yet rising privacy concerns and restrictions raise doubts about the efficacy of these solutions. As an alternative, some argue for the continued importance of calibration panels to correct for coverage lapses and biases in Big Behavioral Data. But the same privacy (and health) concerns also drive down cooperation rates and undermine the ability of panels to serve as “truth sets”. Research is invited on the validity and reliability of ID solutions and panel calibration solutions, as well as on ways of convincing the public to cooperate in measurement efforts despite anxieties about privacy.