Editor’s note: this article is a synthesis of reporting on the same topic from Jeanine Poggi of AdAge and Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable
In October the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) held a meeting for about 40 executives representing most of the major TV content companies. The VAB was seeking a way for the industry to develop credible third-party metrics that show how effective TV is at a time when advertisers’ spending on TV is largely flat and spending on digital advertising is growing rapidly.
Now, a handful of those who attended (including A&E Networks, AMC Networks, The CW, Discovery Communications and Fox News) will move forward with a new attribution model created by analytics firm Data + Math.
“When we talk to advertisers they’re aware that TV worked, but I think we all felt we let digital take credit for a lot of the hard work TV does in driving awareness and brand education and, at the end of the day, really driving results,” said Mel Berning, President and Chief Revenue Officer at A+E Networks.
“The industry needs scalable and standard attribution and business outcome measurements that benefit marketers, agencies, buying platforms and publishers,” said Ben Price, President, U.S. Ad Sales at Discovery Communications.
Scott Collins, President of Advertising Sales at AMC Networks, said, “We are pleased to participate in this effort to use technology to demonstrate in clear and direct terms the value of the impressions we deliver across our five popular and well-defined networks in a dynamic and competitive marketplace.”
Data + Math was founded in 2016 and is backed by Comcast Ventures and Greycroft Partners. The company’s solution uses data from set-top boxes, smart TVs and over-the-top platforms combined with machine learning techniques to essentially “learn” the connection between multi-screen TV exposures and customer sales or conversions.
The meeting was part of a recent trend for the industry to discuss some of the key issues in a fast-changing media environment. Earlier this year, Turner, Fox, and Viacom formed Open AP, a consortium designed to standardize the definition of target audiences as more clients look to switch to audience buying from the traditional use of age and sex demographics. Recently, Linda Yaccarino, chair of NBCUniversal for ad sales and client partnerships, gathered more than 100 buyers, sellers, clients and research to come up with a new way to address commercial TV’s problems with consumer experience and measurement.
Lafayette, J. (2017, Dec. 5). Networks Plan Q1 Test of Data + Math Ad Platform. Broadcasting & Cable.
Poggi, J. (2017, Dec. 5). TV Networks Move Forward with New Attribution Model. AdAge.