The ANA (Association of National Advertisers), the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), and the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies) announced the release of Guiding Principles of Digital Measurement. These five principles are the foundation of Making Measurement Make Sense, an ecosystem-wide initiative.
According to IAB's press release: "The initiative’s leaders have agreed on five Guiding Principles of Digital Measurement. These principles are the product of extensive fact-finding and due diligence regarding current measurement offerings and their application to the business of transacting and evaluating advertising effectiveness. The five principles are built upon the input and consensus garnered from workshops with teams of functional experts and business leaders representing companies across the ecosystem."
Here are the five guiding principles of digital measurement released today:
Move to a “viewable impressions” standard and count real exposures online.
Today we count “served impressions” as recorded by ad servers. Often, ad units are not in a viewable space to the end-user or fail to fully load on the screen – potentially resulting in substantial over-counting of impressions. Viewable exposures are increasingly the norm across other media and better address the needs of brand marketers.
Online advertising must migrate to a currency based on audience impressions, not gross ad impressions.
Brand marketers target specific audiences. Marketers need to understand the quality and number of exposures against their targets – and the respective reach and frequency of such exposures. The existing digital currency makes this extremely difficult. Moreover, the practice of selling ad impressions makes cross-media comparisons extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Because all ad units are not created equal, we must create a transparent classification system.
Unlike traditional media, which have a limited number of inventory types (e.g., 30-sec spot, full-page back cover), digital has a myriad of units. A transparent classification system will:
- Reduce complexity from a creative standpoint
- Simplify the comparison of ad units across websites
- Enhance the ability to track how different types of ad inventory drive different outcomes
- Facilitate planning and evaluation across media
Making Measurement Make Sense advocates a transparent classification system, adhered to by all publishers. Such a system will enable marketers to identify and spotlight the best offerings for brand building, and for other marketing objectives.
Determine interactivity “metrics that matter” for brand marketers, so that marketers can better evaluate online’s contribution to brand building.
Currently, the industry is awash in digital interaction metrics. However, these metrics are not necessarily relevant for brand marketers. Aside from click-throughs, there are few standards for enabling reliable comparison across sites. The industry must identify and define the specific metrics most valuable to brand marketers and define and implement reliable standards for existing metrics.
Digital media measurement must become increasingly comparable and integrated with other media.
Measurement solutions must facilitate cross media platform planning, buying and evaluating of marketing and media. This is a substantial issue that hampers analysis and decision making throughout the ecosystem.
According to Bill Koenigsberg, president, CEO and founder of Horizon Media and Chairman of the 4A’s Media Policy Committee, “In addressing measurement issues, these principles will provide a consistent standard of currency across the digital platform. This will allow the media community to navigate the digital technology landscape in a more reliable manner.”
For more information, view IAB's press release in full >>
