SME Perspective: Is Measurement Effectively Driving Your Media Strategy?

Measurement vendors may have an outsize impact on a broadcaster's business, says Boostr’s Fraser Woollard 

Fraser Woollard, Boostr’s Executive Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships, compares media convergence—when cross-channel media planning, packaging, and buying are combined in a single platform—to Sir Lancelot’s “sneak attack” in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. ‍

“Everyone’s talking about it; everyone sees it coming, but no one is quite there,” Woollard says. “The truth is that most convergence deals are still 10% digital and 90% linear.” 

And when it comes to cross-channel media planning, measurement companies may have more influence than many realize—or as intended. 

To ensure brand messages are delivered to the right target audiences, agencies and brands partner with different measurement providers, which, in turn, use various methodologies, often with different results. 

As brands target increasingly granular audiences, broadcasters are eager to create plans that reflect data from the buyer’s chosen measurement vendor—and prove their success to buyers. Unfortunately, that can mean putting entirely different inventory on a plan depending on the measurement vendor used. 

“Measurement was always meant to be boring—something completely objective,” Woollard says. With the proliferation of providers and methodologies, however, the selection of a measurement vendor has itself started to influence the media plan—an unintended consequence. 

How we got here: the quest for accuracy 

In 2021, tensions between media companies and measurement titan Nielsen boiled over amidst inaccurate reporting. When the Media Ratings Council—a nonprofit organization that audits and accredits measurement companies, products, and data sources—investigated television viewership during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it found that Nielsen undercounted audiences, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost advertising spend. 

This was not Nielsen’s first controversy. In the 1990s, the company came under fire for not choosing truly representative, random samples for its panel data, leading to a 2006 overhaul of its entire methodology. Problems persisted, and startup measurement companies came onto the scene to meet the demand for alternatives. 

Taking back control has been tricky for media companies. Some perform measurements themselves, and others have turned to alternative providers, including Comscore, Kantar Media, EDO, VideoAmp, and iSpot.TV, Samba TV, and TVision. Yet, as different measurement partners emerged, there have been vast discrepancies in reporting. This leads to the question: Are measurement providers inadvertently shaping your media strategy?‍

“If you take the same show and measure the same audience across these different companies, you see dramatic differences in what Nielsen says versus what Comscore says versus others,” Woollard says. “When I looked at the lowest impression count to the highest, there was a 100% difference in some cases.”

Why do discrepancies occur?

If all these companies are ostensibly measuring the same thing, how do these vast differences in the resulting data occur? 

“Part of it is very different methodologies,” Woollard says. “Some are using panel-based measurement, some are observed, some are impressions-based, some use automatic content recognition (ACR), or a combination of all of the above.” 

These different approaches—particularly as publishers drill down into custom segments—can yield very different numbers. 

Panel-based measurement uses representative samples of viewers to extrapolate audience behavior. Companies like Comscore and Kantar Media rely heavily on this methodology. ACR, on the other hand, monitors content consumption across devices, such as iSpot.TV, Samba TV, and TVision all rely on this approach. 

Impressions-based measurement is king for digital media. It utilizes a pixel on the page; every time that pixel image is loaded, it makes an impression. Other companies like EDO and VideoAmp integrate impressions and IP addresses, machine learning, engagement measurement, and more. The catch-all name for this approach is “commingling methodology,” which aims to correct biases by incorporating larger datasets. 

What’s a broadcaster to do?

“There is lots of downward pressure,” Woollard notes. “It often comes down to what the agencies want. After all, if you can sell an advanced audience and generate higher CPMs, you increase the value you offer, and because those audiences are hard to get, the CPMs go up.” 

“The provider must think about how they can make all this work for them,” he continues. “Publishers should optimize, matching the best inventory with what agencies want to be based on the measurement providers—whether that’s iSpot or Comscore or Nielsen.” 

There are reasons why publishers can’t simply opt for the measurement partners that provide the most beneficial numbers for them, including contracts, legacy relationships, or even brand pressure. 

Woollard offers several easy, actionable ideas to navigate the measurement puzzle:

1. Bundle in digital. “It’s time to focus on convergence,” he says. “If you’re still stuck with Nielsen audiences, for example, and those numbers are going down, the only way you can generate more revenue for each of your spots is to throw in more digital inventory.” 

2. Put the issue out in the open. “Work with agencies; talk through this stuff together,” he suggests. Working together builds trust, strengthens data, and builds dynamic marketing with segmentation that everyone can rely on. 

3. Be transparent with your partners. Woollard adds that building different media plans, with varying options across the publisher’s inventory—and even backed with data from various measurement providers—is another option for making measurement work for you.  

When integrating mountains of data, mainly if used to develop a menu of media plan options, technology can facilitate the speedy creation of plans to suit the publisher’s needs. 

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At Boostr, we’ve spent our careers developing tech made just for publishers as they navigate the complex and ever-changing media landscape. Facilitating strategic media planning and using convergence to boost returns is at the top of our minds for our most forward-looking partners. Let us help you negotiate the data so you can focus on creating mission-driven content. 

Let’s talk. 

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