These predictions are informed by our ongoing conversations with audience measurement stakeholders and users around the world. We see both continuity and change ahead.
Panels will remain paramount. Video content producers and distributors need visibility into where their audiences are coming from and how they behave across devices and services. A high quality panel brings diverse streams of TV Big Data together and helps to make sense of it.
Mixed methods will mature. Single source methods can no longer capture the totality of audience behaviour. Cross-platform audience fragmentation demands a hybrid measurement approach, which is being trialed in several countries. More countries will move in this direction.
Data partnerships will develop. We cannot collect all the data we need from a single source. Audience measurement data will increasingly be integrated with other relevant data sets.
Maths Men will multiply. The power of modelling, ascription and data integration has been proven. As hybrid methods increase in popularity, the importance of employing sound statistical techniques will expand exponentially.
New cross-platform metrics will emerge. Every medium has its own definition of ‘exposure’. Advertisers still need cross-media, as well as cross-platform insight. A cross-platform, multi-media ‘Time Spent’ metric will compete for attention.