Research & Data Quality

The Evolution of the Insights and Analytics Team

The Evolution of the Insights and Analytics Team

  • By John Baro, Young Pros Officer
  • Organizational Council

At this event, members of the ARF Organizational Insights Council presented the results of 21 in-depth interviews (IDIs) with industry leaders that they had conducted from June to November 2025. The purpose of these IDIs was to gain an understanding of the “how” and “why” behind industry shifts uncovered in the Council’s third Organizational Benchmark Survey in 2024. The five Council members – Council Chair Susan Pizarro (Dynata) and Council members Shelley Yang (Ipsos), Remy Spoentgen (Nielsen), John Baro (Transunion), and Maris Cohen (Blackstone), revealed insights on the trends impacting the evolution of insights and analytics team such as the breaking down of silos, shifting roles and responsibilities, and the impact of AI on work distributions and teams.

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What Marketers Need to Know About Retail Media Measurement

What Marketers Need to Know About Retail Media Measurement

  • ARF ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Retail Media Networks (RMNs) have become a cornerstone of modern advertising, but measurement practices across networks remain inconsistent and difficult to compare. This new ARF study examines 16 major RMNs to uncover how advertising assets, attribution systems, incrementality testing and closed-loop measurement are actually implemented in practice. The findings reveal that while reporting dashboards may appear unified, the underlying measurement systems often rely on disparate sources of retailer data, platform reporting, modeling and privacy-safe integrations. The report offers practical guidance for advertisers evaluating retail media investments and highlights the growing need for industry-wide measurement transparency and standards.

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AUDIENCEXSCIENCE 2026

AUDIENCEXSCIENCE 2026

  • ARF

ARF’s annual AUDIENCExSCIENCE conference showcased the most urgent challenges and recent breakthroughs in audience measurement. Industry leaders gathered in NYC March 18-19 to examine the rapidly changing intersection of AI, marketing, media, and consumer insights. As AI shifts research workflows, alters measurement systems, and changes consumer behavior, we explored new insights on how audience measurement is adapting to rapid change. Read the executive summary of the conference and the top presentation highlights here. For detailed key takeaways of each session, see below.

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Proving the Power of Faster MMM: New Research & Real-World Brand Stories

Proving the Power of Faster MMM: New Research & Real-World Brand Stories

  • ARF
  • INSIGHTS STUDIOS

On February 25, leading authorities from OptiMine shared new research examining why marketing mix model (MMM) refresh cadence matters more than many brands realize. Attendees heard the latest insights from OptiMine’s Model Refresh Cadence project, examining how model degradation occurs over time and how refresh frequency impacts reliability and decision-making. Panelists shared real-world case studies based on brands that have successfully moved to faster refresh cycles, highlighting what changed operationally and what improved as a result.

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Steering AI Bias: How Persona Prompts Unlock Nuance in Gen AI Responses

Steering AI Bias: How Persona Prompts Unlock Nuance in Gen AI Responses

  • Psychology of Gen AI
  • ARF; MSI

Large language models mirror human cognitive biases—but can those biases be guided? This experiment, the second phase in the fourth study on loss aversion in the Psychology of Gen AI series, reveals that while loss aversion remains deeply ingrained in AI responses, introducing persona information, such as demographics or personality traits, can increase variability and make outputs more nuanced.  For advertisers and researchers, this opens the door to design strategic prompts that spark richer and more nuanced, human-like responses.  

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AI Biases We Can’t See

AI Biases We Can’t See

  • ARF

While we have all heard about biases in AI LLMs regarding gender and race, we wondered what other biases might be lurking beneath the surface that we can’t readily see. On April 9, we dove into a study from Galileo Research & Strategy Consultancy about Americans’ Health & Wellness behaviors and attitudes. Attendees discovered what was learned and its implications for using AI in research studies.

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When Language Becomes Targeting: How Gender Cues Shape AI Recommendations

When Language Becomes Targeting: How Gender Cues Shape AI Recommendations

  • Psychology of Gen AI
  • ARF; MSI; Iris Flex

As generative AI tools increasingly influence product discovery and decision-making, subtle cues in user language can shape what consumers are shown—and how options are framed. This second phase of the sixth study in the Psychology of Gen AI series examines how implicit and explicit gender signals affect AI-generated product recommendations, revealing systematic differences in categories, brand repetition, descriptive language and price information. The findings raise important questions for advertisers and researchers about bias, brand visibility and the growing cultural role of AI in shaping consumer norms.

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Why Synthetic Respondents Flatten Consumer Sentiment

Why Synthetic Respondents Flatten Consumer Sentiment

  • Psychology of Gen AI
  • ARF; MSI

This fifth experiment in the Psychology of Gen AI series reveals that large language models apply a rigid, rule-driven logic when evaluating privacy scenarios—even when humans typically shift their reasoning based on framing, emotion and social context. Unlike consumers, who blend intuition, feeling and social perspective into their judgments, GPT-4o relied on a single internal rule across all testing conditions: data use is acceptable only with explicit consent. This consistency offers value for certain analytic tasks but exposes limits for advertising research that depends on emotional nuance and context-sensitive consumer insight.    

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