Audience & Media Measurement

OTT 2024: Today's Dynamic Media Landscape -- What's Next?

Attendees joined us on October 23 for our annual OTT conference, offering the latest research on shifts in the TV and video landscape, viewer behavior, and cross-platform measurement. Industry experts discussed trends in viewing habits, advertising innovations, and predictions for 2025. Attendees also had the opportunity to participate in discussions and network with industry peers over breakfast, lunch, and the cocktail reception.

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Discover the Future of Advertising through Immersive Technologies

  • Journal of Advertising Research

Immersive technologies, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed realities (MR), are expected to become increasingly important in advertising. These technologies create extended realities (XR) that enhance consumer engagement and provide new opportunities for marketers. While the fully immersive “metaverse” is still in development, platforms like Fortnite, Roblox and Zepeto already provide touchpoints where consumers connect physical and virtual realities.

Despite the potential of immersive technologies to transform advertising, there are challenges in effectively deploying them within communication strategies. Limited knowledge on how to use specific technologies or combinations of technologies to achieve different promotional objectives, siloed research on AR and VR applications, and the infancy of these research areas are some of the key challenges. This special issue of the Journal of Advertising Research addresses these challenges and provides insights into the future of immersive technologies in advertising.

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ARF Attention Measurement Validation Initiative: Phase 2 Report (2nd Edition)

  • ARF ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Explore the latest findings from the ARF Attention Measurement Validation Initiative. The phase two report is a comprehensive examination of various attention measurement methods used in creative testing. It concludes with reflections on the challenges of attention measurement, as well as some suggestions for advertisers on how to choose and evaluate attention measurement providers.

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How to Calculate Reach and Frequency Using Virtual IDs (VIDs)

Current existing methods used to calculate reach and frequency of a campaign or media schedule are known to have deficiencies in measuring cross-device ad exposure. Restrictions to protect digital privacy complicate cross-platform exposure measurement even further. Multiple global research organizations have turned to a concept known as “virtual people,” to overcome these limitations in order to produce aggregate reach and frequency estimates. This report by the ARF Analytics Council provides a foundational overview of VIDs for a broad audience, providing ARF members with a stronger understanding of this vital topic.

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Big Data and Advanced Audiences

  • INSIGHTS STUDIOS

Going beyond demographics, planning, buying and selling TV with advanced audiences enables a greater bang for the advertising buck and enables sellers to optimize inventory allocation. On October 9, attendees learned about the opportunities and challenges associated with this increasingly used capability. Pete Doe of Nielsen discussed how to apply data-driven insights to enhance the effectiveness of advertising strategies. After, Paul Donato, Chief Research Officer of the ARF, led a follow-up conversation.

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Full-Funnel Measurement Showcase

  • Cross-Platform Measurement Council

On July 16th, 2024 the ARF Cross Platform Measurement Council’s Attribution Working Group hosted this highly informative showcase on full funnel measurement. The event featured detailed case studies presented by leading measurement providers Optimine, TransUnion, and Data Poem, which had been selected by the Working Group from a pool of responses to a RFI that they had developed. Each demonstrated innovative approaches to cross-channel performance measurement and the benefits of these approaches. The event concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Kate Weymer, Director, Data Science at Microsoft, which provided further insights into the value of evaluating both short-term and long-term effects of media on outcomes and the impact of third-party cookie deprecation on their approaches.

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Predicting Attention to Advertising Through Machine Learning

Privacy regulations have served as the impetus for a renewed interest in contextual targeting. To be effective, an ad must be related to its context but different enough to stand out. This working paper from the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) at the ARF presents a comprehensive model leveraging eye-tracking data and XGBoost algorithms to forecast the effectiveness of ad placements in real time.

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