Discover the latest and most impactful research on audience, media and advertising measurement across platforms and devices here. All the research listed comes from the ARF or one of its subsidiaries: The Journal of Advertising Research (JAR), the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) or the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). Feel free to bookmark this page, as it will be updated periodically.
What are the effects of the 2018 EU General Data Protection Regulation? According to this analysis, the nuanced effects include reduced data sharing online and increased market concentration of the top four web technology categories. These together represent 94% of website-vendor ties. They are advertising, hosting, audience measurement, and social media.
Member Only Access
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) dictates how firms are to collect, store and employ personal information online. Given the importance of such data, the GDPR has a direct impact on the bottom line of millions of online firms. Researchers in this study wanted to understand the consequences of this regulation for website traffic and ecommerce. They found that at least initially, GDPR reduces online activity and economic results somewhat, especially from personalized marketing channels (display ads & emails). With greater enforcement and compliance long-term, however, the impact may be even greater.
Member Only Access
There is a ton of research on the signaling effects of ad spending. But new work tackles lingering questions: Why do advertising expenditures have a stronger impact on perceived quality for some brands and in some product categories but not as much for others? And how do increases in expenditures across different media channels affect quality perceptions?
Member Only Access
Editors at the Journal of Advertising Research have launched two new calls for papers on timely themes — one on immersive technologies and the other on prosocial advertising messages. Interested in contributing your robust work in these areas? Read on to learn about goals for each call and the journal’s resources and support toward submitting a successful paper.
The ARF Universe Study of Device and Account Sharing (DASH) is a nationally projectable enumeration study of consumer behavior in TV and digital media. DASH records in granular detail how US households connect to and consume TV, use digital devices, and interact with and share streaming media and ecommerce accounts. Launched in 2021, this syndicated study is designed to serve as an industry standard truth set for insight and data calibration. The report just released by the ARF highlights findings from the first wave of DASH 2022. Data and findings from the full 2022 data set will be available in January 2023.
A single persuasive message by a social media influencer can positively drive consumer behaviors and attitudes, but what are the potential effects from multiple exposures over time? With an eye on consumer skepticism in today's dynamic media environments, this article explores both short-term and long-term effects in this area. Hint: Time heals.
Member Only Access
The ARF Cross-Platform Measurement Council has put out a practical handbook to help marketers and media operators gain a full understanding of data cleanrooms. It explains how cleanroom vendors provide clients and their partners with such a service, which links first-party data across two or more companies on a record level in a secure and privacy-compliant fashion. Interest in cleanrooms has been increasing because the disappearance of third-party cookies is on the horizon. The handbook not only demystifies cleanrooms, but it also includes use cases for insights, audience activation and measurement, and offers practical advice on questions to ask data cleanroom providers.
Member Only Access
Today, there is much discussion and debate on the definition of attention, how to measure it properly and whether we should be measuring it at all, or if inattention instead should be what we assess. Plus, is the highest form of attention always desired, or do we want low levels of attention for certain kinds of ads, such as emotional ones for TV? As a result of all these questions, the ARF has announced the Attention Validation Project. Its goals are to help define attention, evaluate the methods available to us and what their rightful application is, whether it be analyzing advertising creative or the media environment.
Member Only Access
Towards the end of 2018, the ARF issued a Knowledge at Hand report and a CMO Brief each called The OTT Revolution. Since then, the OTT revolution has not only continued but it has accelerated. Moreover, the pandemic acted as a catalyst, increasing the rate of this acceleration. At the same time, the meaning of the term OTT has changed.
Member Only Access
Roadblock advertising is an expensive, but often necessary tactic for maximizing attention in a fragmented media landscape. An advertiser limits or blocks access to competing ads for a period. Is it worth the high cost? A three-part study compares its effectiveness with typical cluttered advertising and addresses various effects using different formats and commercial break conditions.
Member Only Access