CTV Ad Fraud Schemes Rise
A major new study from DoubleVerify (DV) reports both progress and ongoing problems in digital advertising. Viewability rates are improving while the number of ad fraud schemes uncovered by DV spiked up 70% in 2021.
optimization
- Analytics & Data Science
- Article
Optimizing Interventions Along the Customer Journey
Random controlled experiments for A/B testing help improve things like a company's marketing or customer service. However, individually optimizing interventions may not always capture interactions across the entire purchase decision journey. To optimize interventions more holistically, use a Bayesian reinforcement learning model. It can integrate multiple historical experiments, which can improve both current impact as well as future learning.
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Enabling Alternative TV Measurement for Buyers and Sellers
Pete Doe – Chief Research Officer, Xandr
Caroline Horner – Chief Product Officer, 605
Key Takeaways
- In supporting multiple currencies for this project, Pete used a light integration of data that was easier to implement than a full onboarding of data, which is expensive, time-intensive and not always contractually feasible. The data-driven linear (DDL) viewing data was optimized in terms of impressions and ratings rather than reach.
- Assessing the systematic differences between the currency provider and an alternative is necessary for currency conversion. Xandr saw very large differences between vendors.
- Buyers and sellers need to understand how deals compare when assessed against different currencies.
- Identifying audiences that were more likely to convert led 605 to follow an iterative process that checked effectiveness of prior campaign responses, studied how targets responded and refined them to create and execute against the new target audience for delivery conversion, frequency and lift.
Concurrent Track Panel Discussion: Attention Measures
Jon Watts – Managing Director, CIMM MODERATOR
Key Takeaways
- Attention is “ready for prime time,” as Marc Guldimann (Adelaide) put it. It has risen to prominence in the industry’s agenda and expects it to spread into media mix modeling and programmatic. Attention, he believes, should free the industry from “invasive” attribution practices by giving advertisers confidence in the quality of the media they are buying.
- Jon Waite (Havas) was encouraged to see attention move from theory to practice for optimizing campaigns. He believes that the focus on attention would encourage publishers to improve experiences on the web, which, in turn, would lead to better results for brands.
- Mike Follett (Lumen) cautioned that there was still much to learn about attention in different contexts, flighting, frequency, differences between B-to-B and B-to-C, the role of creative and long-term effects. What he found interesting in Joanne Leong’s presentation (to which he contributed) is the possibility of developing models that can predict attention for any campaign.
- Publishers have come up with innovative formats to optimize for attention on television, according to Kelsey Hanlon (TVision).
There was some disagreement among the panelists about the prospects for an attention currency. Marc saw it as an “obvious next step.” Mike regarded attention as more of a buy-side “trading tool.” Jon said that it will become a key planning metric for Havas.
Datagraphs: The Next Great Digital Advantage
Datagraphs capture how people work, play, learn, socialize, transact, travel and any other activity that can be associated with commerce. Leading technology companies are using datagraphs to personalize customer recommendations, update products, optimize advertising and more. The most successful examples include Amazon’s purchase graph, Google’s search graph, Facebook’s social graph, Netflix’s movie graph, Spotify’s music graph, Airbnb’s travel graph, Uber’s mobility graph, and LinkedIn’s professional graph. Each of these leverage the ongoing collection of customer engagement data, coupled with proprietary algorithms, to outcompete rivals in every way, from product creation to user experience. We’ve all seen the signs in front of McDonald’s announcing “Over 99 Billion Served” and have watched the number rise over the years. But tracking how many burgers are sold every day, month or year is a relic of the past. Today what is asked is: Do we know where each consumer buys their burgers? At what time? What do they drink with it? What do they do before or after buying a burger? How can we satisfy more of their needs so that they keep coming back? Datagraphs capture this information, helping to reshape competition in every sector. Leaders must invest in upgrading their data architecture to enable a real-time, comprehensive view of how consumers interact with their products and services, so that they can develop unique ways to solve customer problems. Thanks to its rich data and industry-leading personalization, Amazon now owns 40% of the U.S. e-commerce market. Its closest rival, Walmart, has a market share of only 7%. Source: Govindarajan, V. and Venkatraman, N. Venkat. (May-June 2022). The Next Great Digital Advantage. Analytics and Data Science, Harvard Business Review.
Member Only AccessThe 21st Century Shopper
A two-day ARF event focused on new insights into changes in shopping behaviors and retailer strategies.
At the ARF’s SHOPPER 2022 event, which took place virtually over March 8-9, speakers discussed the evolving consumer purchase journeys, the rise of the retail media networks and how marketers and retailers are leveraging data and technology to gain better consumer insights as well as close the loop on measurement. ARF members have access to all the videos and presentations. Here are a few of the thoughtful and useful comments mentioned during the Shopper event.
Who is Today’s Shopper?
Claire Tassin — Retail and Ecommerce Analyst, Morning Consult.
Among all U.S. adults, more people prefer to shop in-store versus online (41% vs. 29%). There were generational differences as Gen Z and Gen X preferred shopping in-store, while Millennials were equally split. Household with income under $50k also preferred shopping in-store.
A Shopper-First Approach for At-Shelf Shopper Learning.
Pingping Yu — Senior Manager, Customer Insights, Walmart/Sam’s Club, General Mills.
Consumer responses to surveys and interviews may not represent real world behavior. Logical answers (System 2) resulted from surveys; however, a virtual shopping experience (System 1) provided different and more meaningful responses.
The Rise of Retail Sales Data.
Ben Sylvan — GM, Retail Data Partnerships, The Trade Desk.
Retail sales data is seen as valuable by marketers and brands for driving conversions, attribution and building brand equity. Therefore, the importance of retail media has accelerated.
Retailer Panel Discussion: Best Buy Ads and Home Depot Retail Media
Keith Bryan—President, Best Buy Ads & SVP of Media Strategy & CRM, Best Buy.
Mr. Bryan spoke about the increasingly blurred lines when it comes to what is endemic in business. Then Melanie Babcock--VP, Integrated Media, Home Depot-- gave her take on retail media networks, and how it can be leveraged to address the dramatic changes in consumer shopping habits.
The Rise of Retail Media Networks.
Jennifer Pelino, EVP, Global Media Solutions, IRI.
Ms. Pelino explained that retail media networks are full-service media houses and provide audience segmentation, media activation and tracking, as well as measurement and optimization. Caroline Liu of Walgreens Advertising Group (WAG) explained that WAG’s first-person data enables personalized ads at scale, and WAG has worked with 600 brands on 6,000 campaigns.
Retail Media Networks – a Strategic Shopper Marketing Tool?
Steve McGowan — Head of Shopper Activation & Strategic Partnerships, Mondelēz International.
As consumers require flexibility in shopping, brands need to think about how to interact with them holistically throughout the entire path-to-purchase.
Zooming In: Mass Reach vs. Micro-Targeting.
Aaron Sobol — Head of US Investments and Partnerships, Unilever.
There are no hard and fast rules on the issue of mass reach vs. microtargeting in retail media. There is a need to develop a holistic approach across all media to see where mass reach and targeting are most effective.
Find key takeaways, videos, presentations and more on the event’s webpage.
- Past Event Highlights
- Article
The Measurement Dilemma — Navigating Privacy-Driven Disruption
Changes in privacy legislation, the deprecation of the third-party cookie, and new rules on Google and Apple platforms have set the stage for the impending data disruption in the advertising industry, as outlined in IAB’s State of Data 2022 report and OptiMine’s overview on Google Topics. Both presentations and the subsequent panel discussion in this Insights Studio session emphasized the unavoidable impact the loss of individual tracking will have on measurement and attribution and urged marketers to act quickly to prepare for the effects on revenues.
Member Only AccessNYCU: Improving Marketing Research Skills
As changes in marketing and research methods and technologies accelerate, keeping up to date is becoming increasingly urgent for researchers. The ARF and New York University (NYU) are providing a solution.
The ARF, in association with NYU’s School of Professional Studies, is creating a program that offers researchers the opportunity to update themselves on the latest practices and applications of marketing research and obtain The ARF Marketing Optimization and Insights Certificate.
ARF President & CEO, Scott McDonald, Ph.D., reviewed the program in a conversation with Bob Lederer, President and Publisher of RFL Communications, Inc.
Source: Lederer, B. (2022, February 17). Researchers Update Skills, Familiarity in ARF Courses. RFL Communications, Research Business DAILY Report.
More information—including details on when live sessions will take place for each course and how long the certification would take to complete—are available. The next session kicks off on March 21.
ARF Members who register by March 7 are eligible to pay only $3,000—a $5,000 discount. To confirm your interest, or register someone from your team, contact us at arfcertification@thearf.org
Learn more and register on the ARF website.
NYCU: The State of MTA
A new report by Neustar and MMA examines the state of Multi-Touch Attribution. While most marketers in North America are using MTA, challenges remain. At the same time, the report points to developments that are likely to improve MTA performance and increase adoption. MTA was first developed about 15 years ago with the goal of having always-on access to insights about how a marketing campaign was performing. Marketers had visions of real-time optimizations, with little to no human involvement, that would transform the way they bought their media. According to this new report, early MTA was often simple in its approach, naively allocating sales credit across only digital device touchpoints. Companies like Neustar developed multi-touch solutions designed to capture the true impact of marketing touchpoints across the customer journey and incorporated non-marketing factors, such as seasonality or competitive activity, to provide a true view of the incremental revenue marketing was driving. Fast forward to today, where threats of data deprecation, media fragmentation in traditional channels like TV, and the growth of walled gardens are threatening the advances we made in those early days. At Neustar, we have invested heavily in building a sustainable partnership ecosystem that puts privacy at the center of everything we do.” We believe in the future of MTA. It’s why we teamed up with the MMA on the report you have access to below. We were struck by some of their findings on MTA adoption earlier this year, and thought they’d be an ideal partner to expand on that research and provide us—and everyone else in the industry—with an objective picture of MTA’s current prospects. The chart from the report, based on a survey of marketers, provides an example of the challenges facing MTA adoption. However, the report also makes a strong case for its future as a key part of the marketing analytics toolkit, pointing to:
- TV addressability – which provides better and richer measures
- Privatized Measurement – adding privacy-compliant data from more partners, including walled gardens
- Unified Identity - means better identity resolution, less bias, improved collaboration
Source: MMA, Neustar. (2021). The State of MTA: Unbiased Research from the MMA. MMA, Neustar.
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