OPINION: A call for standardised TV/online video measurement

I am a big proponent of online video. In a 16-year career I have spent the past third of it arguing with TV buyers as to why they should shift more of their TV budgets to online video. Why? Well the numbers don't lie. In the past 10 years TV has struggled to deliver both audience and cost efficiencies due to diversification of consumer engagement, viewing, clutter and continuing decline in TV’s power to sell. This was notably outlined in the McKinsey TV Effectiveness Report in 2009. 

So why does video work?  I think our sector has done a pretty good job on educating about its benefits, but that said, here's a quick reminder:

• There is no need to be at home to watch it. Mobile and tablet growth will exceed 25 per cent CAGR across APAC over the next four years.
• Incredible ability to target. No more spray and hope.
• More effective advertising. No cluttered breaks with ineffective adverts getting lost in three- to four-minute advertising slots.
• Variety of content. No more reality programmes.
• Always on. 
• Less restrictive space, allowing advertisers to become innovative once again.
• Shareable.
• Astronomical brand retention.

Bottom line? Online video advertising is the way of the future. If you’re not already doing it, you can bet your competitors are.

So if video is so impressive, why aren't advertisers migrating more of their budgets from TV to online video? As we are all aware, new innovations in technology, tablets, mobile and IPTV will see the future of TV and video as a marriage made in heaven. Consumers will be guided through this current complicated landscape with new, easy-to-use, cost-efficient hardware and software, allowing the masses access to this ever-increasing content. As with any new media launched over the past 30 or so years, it has taken a while for the market to find, agree and promote a measurement system that proves performance. Many marketers held back dollars until publishers and agencies alike found a suitable, pressure-tested measurement system that enabled advertisers to justify their shift in revenue shares, and rightly so.

There have been some battle lines drawn in the digital sector. Some people believe we need a standardised buying currency, and others believe there is a need for a more customised creativity to attract greater client dollars. These though, are a little premature.

The end game for success is quintessentially about measurement and ultimately selling products, and there is little confidence as yet that we have been able to achieve this first phase.

The industry’s experience with satellite TV advertising in the 1990s is often used to show that if an emerging channel has metrics comparable to an older one, budgets will quickly follow. It was a slightly easier process to finding a solution as the panel makeup and reporting for broadcast and satellite TV were always similar.

Online, however is somewhat more complicated. This is about real data, real people and real results. Few media experts could enlighten us as to why having online ratings/GRPs/Tarps was so important, beyond taking cash from the TV purse. Advertisers have been very vocal, saying that GRPs alone are not a satisfactory currency, and that deeper channel metrics understanding the branding, behavioural, and transactional processes are needed to accommodate this movement of revenue.

So what is the first step? It is imperative that we create a measurement bridge between digital video and traditional TV. More significant, we need to evolve the GRP rather than follow this outdated system to better answer the age-old brand-marketing conundrum, "Where, when and why is my reach making or not making an impression on potential consumers?”

Having a single buying currency is not a necessity. Having an established a common measurement system is. Agencies and marketers should be able to shift revenues across screens to better balance reach and effectiveness curves, not just reach and frequency curves. TV has the benefit of being able to amass higher gross ratings in quicker time frames. However, digital video systems will have the advantage of accountability against each dollar spent on branding initiatives, because ultimately effectiveness is needed to achieve efficiencies.

It is getting more difficult for brands to break through the clutter in this always-on and highly fragmented ecosystem. Sophisticated brands continue to gain competitive advantage utilising ground-breaking systems and pushing their reach into environments that are maximising brand performance at scale. 

Online video will undeniably be the biggest growth medium over the next five years. It is a great supplement to TV, and an accepted measurement system proving effectiveness for both screens will be potent proof of all the hard work the industry has put in.