I-COM worldmeasurementnews

In US, Jane Clarke Named Managing Director of the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM)

NEW YORK – (December 8, 2009) – The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) today named Jane Clarke its Managing Director. As the newly created group’s first Managing Director, Clarke will oversee all day-to-day operations for CIMM, including management of the RFI process, vendor relationships and the resulting research studies. Clarke will report directly to the CIMM Executive Board.

"Jane has the knowledge, experience and relationships to drive a collaborative effort like CIMM toward identifying excellence in media measurement innovation," said Colleen Fahey Rush, Chairman of the CIMM Executive Board and Executive Vice President of Strategic Insights and Research for MTV Networks. "CIMM needs a strong dedicated leader to maintain and grow its early momentum, and we’re thrilled to have someone of Jane’s caliber in this crucial role."

As Managing Director, Clarke will be responsible for developing CIMM’s strategy and vision as it promotes innovation in traditional and new media measurement. Clarke will coordinate communications among and supply monthly updates to CIMM member companies, while facilitating new membership for interested television content providers, media agencies and advertisers.

"As change accelerates across the media landscape, it’s imperative that content providers and marketers work together to articulate our shared needs and spark innovation in measurement," said Clarke. "I’m looking forward to working with all our member companies to develop measurement that will power the continued growth and evolution of the media industry." More...

In South Africa, Acceleration Media pioneers universal GRP metric for online media evaluation

Acceleration Media writes: Acceleration Media is pioneering a groundbreaking online media and planning methodology called Gross Rating Points (GRPs) in South Africa. This innovative methodology will allow media planners and marketers to, for the first time, set correct media weighting and budgets to their online campaigns so that they can achieve the best possible return on their investments in the digital channel.

Acceleration Media's online GRP tool is an audience measurement method that combines Acceleration Media's ad-serving data with demographic information from the OPA/Nielsen's panel. This allows Acceleration Media to forecast reach and frequency for online advertising campaigns in the same way as many marketers and media planners in offline media forecast reach and frequency.

“One reason for this is that media planners have lacked a metric to establish marketing budget allocation for the online environment. It's clear that we require a universal media evaluation approach" said Marcus Stephens, new business development manager at Acceleration Media. More...

CAEM announces I-COM National Roundtable Portugal for Nov. 26th

The I-COM under the patronage of Portuguese Joint Industry Committee, CAEM (Commission for Media Study Analysis) will hold a National Roundtable on November 26th in Lisbon at The Ritz. The goal of the event will be to build consensus on market issues in Portugal such as Three Screen Measurement & Social Media Measurement and achieve new insights by examining them from an international perspective. More...

In UK, Digital Video advertising measurement open standard finally in sight

The Guardian writes: It's taken a while, but broadcasters, online publishers and advertisers could be close to agreeing a standardised system to measure online video viewing. The Broadband Measurement Working Group, a coalition of broadcasters, internet service providers and measurement bodies, is to start testing a new measurement metric next month, 18 months after starting out on its mission to create a universally recognised way of quantifying the millions of video views publishers are generating. The group brought together an eclectic cast including the BBC, ITV (LSE: ITV), C4, Five, BSkyB (NYSE: BSY), Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED), BT (NYSE: BT), BARB, ABCe and the IPA.

Matt Simpson, chair of the IPA Digital Media Group and also group head of digital at OMD, says that "as TV overlaps online more, it's vital for online to develop tools that count across both platforms." More...

In US, the Cross-Platform Ratings Debate Continues

Steve McClellan writes for Adweek: Nielsen's recently announced plans for a cross-platform ratings system has sparked debate about both the rollout's timing and exactly what online programs should be included.

The plan, revealed just over a week ago at a client meeting in New York, focused on Nielsen's creation of a single system for measuring audiences for TV and online long-form video programs by mid-2011.

But for some, that's just too long a wait. "I think the industry recognizes we needed this yesterday," said Alan Wurtzel, president, research and media development at NBC Universal. "If you can't measure it, you can't sell it." More...

In US, CIMM launches website & RFP, reiterates need for 3 Screen Measurement

The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement writes: CIMM is a group of buyers and sellers formed to promote innovation and develop new industry standards for television, mobile and cross platform audience measurement in the United States. To facilitate this ongoing effort CIMM intends to shape, fund, and operate a small number of pilots with measurement companies and publish research findings.

Among our specific concerns two stand out. The promise of set-top-box tuning data, offering very large samples (approaching census) that can deliver the combination of granularity and reliability we need at low cost, is obvious. However research suppliers have not begun to address STB methodological issues to our satisfaction.

A second concern is cross-platform measurement. We need reliable, granular, results-based metrics that can be applied consistently across all the major video platforms, to fuel the burgeoning interest in multi-platform video advertising plans. Such metrics do not now exist.

This is the time for leading buyers and sellers to work together with audience measurement providers to seek innovative solutions and understand the tradeoffs of innovative solutions to media metrics. We are agnostic as to who will supply us with this data; the field is open, but we need these forward-looking metrics, adequate to the high standards of trading and post-evaluation, within the next 3-5 years. More...

In US, CIMM saga continues as Nielsen invites top clients to strategy meeting

Claire Atkinson writes for Broadcasting & Cable: At an Oct. 16 meeting, Nielsen will open a conversation with clients, hoping it will help content owners figure out how to gain real compensation for the material they make available online and to mobile devices. And crucially for the measurement outfit, it also wants to make sure it remains at the forefront of the effort.

Nielsen is convening 75 top clients to get ahead of measurement issues that are going to come crashing down swiftly as audience authentication initiatives like TV Everywhere and OnDemand Online begin rolling out nationally. The optimistic time frame for pay-TV companies to begin authenticating subscribers across the nation is summer 2010. Of course, Hulu is already there, but competitors and some industry observers argue that while the video site has been a success at drawing audience, it operates without a viable long-term business model.

With the divergent needs of the industry in mind, Nielsen plans to present its wares and listen to how the industry would like to proceed in melding TV and online video measurement. “Nielsen is measuring three screens, but they have to come up with a combined product that meets the industry’s needs and they want to get out in front of it,” says one senior research executive.

In US, Nielsen moves forward with "three-screen" measurement strategy

Joe Mandese writes for Mediapost: In another step toward the integration of online and television, TV ratings researcher Nielsen Co. has informed its clients that it is adding new sample characteristics to its ratings software that will enable advertisers, agencies and media companies to identify the composition of TV audiences based on their household Internet connection speed, persons Internet usage, whether the households are "telephone-capable," and whether the households play video games.

The new sample characteristics come as Nielsen is racing ahead with its so-called "three-screen" measurement strategy, and as the advertising and media industry are contemplating other solutions to get audience measurement data for TV, online and mobile platforms, including the recently organized Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). More...