Cross-Platform

• Research & Data Quality
• Article

The ARF Universe Study of Device & Account Sharing: The How and Why

• The ARF

In the digital age, it is difficult to measure media usage on the individual level. Users may share multiple devices and have several profiles across and even within service categories. People share usernames and passwords with others to allow them access to their streaming media or e-commerce accounts. As a result, providers of digital services and research lack a consistent, reliable and efficient way to parse out the digital world at the user level. Now, a new study by the ARF provides a solution.

CMO Brief: Attention and Ad Impact — New Insights from New Research

• Posted: June 8, 2021

One of the essential goals of advertising is to get customers’ attention. However, a lot of campaigns approach this simplistically. More “attention” does not necessarily mean an ad is more effective. Attention is a much more complex phenomenon than that. While attention is a prerequisite for ad impact, the term is ambiguous, complex and attention is difficult to measure. Moreover, “attention” does not necessarily indicate a positive response, and a high level of attention is not always a sign of a positive ad impact. Read more.

• Research & Data Quality
• Article

Web Scraping for Consumer Insight “Nuggets”

• MSI

One technique that offers a treasure trove of insights into consumer behavior is “web scraping.” Although worthwhile, using it to gather data requires a specific, methodological approach. Otherwise, validity is threatened. This MSI working paper addresses how researchers should go about web scraping in order to ensure design transparency, analytic reproducibility, analytic robustness, replicability and generalizability of effects.

• Audience & Media Measurement
• Article

Best Practices for Comingling Set-Top Box and Smart TV ACR Data

• CIMM

Data sets for STBs and Smart TVs have, up until now, been separate from one another, which has hampered the ability to accurately assess viewing habits. This data would be very useful for planning, buying and optimizing ad campaigns. Since the two are complementary, combining them can help us form scaled, granular, TV tuning data sets that are more nationally representative. Luckily, a new report from the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM)—a subsidiary of the ARF, outlines best practices for combining set-top box data and smart TV ACR data.

Member Only Access

• Article

What Lift & ROI Measurement Products Exist Today?

Relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) have become increasingly important over the last decade for evaluating the impact of marketing and media spending. Today, numerous companies offer products that measure “ROI” and “lift,” But, for many, it is difficult to differentiate them. This prompted the Online-Offline Metrics Working Group of the ARF’s Cross-Platform Measurement Council to create: The Guide to Lift and ROI Measurement Products. This comprehensive report highlights the product offerings of 27 companies in the space. Read more »

• Article

MSI: Linking Clicks to Bricks -- Spillover Benefits of Online Advertising

Investigates the impact of email on online and offline revenues, using a high-dimensional observational dataset from one of the largest retailers in the U.S., which links each consumer’s online behaviors to item-level purchase records in physical stores. Read more.

• Article

JAR: Effectiveness and Efficiency of TV’s Brand-Building Power: A Historical Review

While not quite as vigorous as in its heyday, television still has tremendous power to move markets, despite distracted viewing. That’s the outcome of a historical review of TV advertising’s performance, spurred by 2016 ARF research that encouraged advertisers to add back traditional media to digital investments. MASB and its research partners ask: Is TV really still as strong as in the past? Should new measures of persuasion be considered over the GRP? Read the summary.

• Creative & Branded Content
• Article

How to Use Context to Optimize Advertising Campaigns (Summary)

• The ARF
• KNOWLEDGE AT HAND; CMO BRIEF

No advertisement is seen in isolation. The impact an ad has depends on the context it finds itself in, including what type of ad or content preceded it or what it is adjacent to, in terms of digital or print. Today, there is a renewed interest in context effects, particularly in the COVID era, as advertisers worry about their ads rolling after or being adjacent to upsetting news. This newly updated Knowledge at Hand and corresponding CMO Brief explore all the latest research and insights surrounding context effects.

Member Only Access

• Article

MSI: Do Offline and Online Go Hand in Hand? Cross-channel and Synergy Effects of Direct Mailing and Display Advertising

Analyzes quasi-experimental data from a large European insurance firm to determine the effect of direct mailing on zip-code level upper, middle and lower funnel performance metrics over time. Finds that direct mailing significantly influences consumers’ online search and clicking behavior in support of cross-channel effects of direct mailing. Read more.

• Article

JAR: Why Do People Choose to Multitask with Media? The Dimensions of Polychronicity as Drivers of Multiple Media Use – A User Typology

Given the prevalence of multi-tasking among media users, planning multimedia advertising campaigns is more complex than ever. This study introduces a typology that identifies three types of multimedia users, each with its own distinct patterns. Practitioners can use this tool to increase the accuracy of targeting in an otherwise elusive digital native audience. Read the JAR summary.