Where Streaming Measurement Isn’t Measuring Up
The lack of consistent measurement tools, metrics, and standards across multiple platforms continues to limit the success of streaming ads and frustrate content publishers looking to deliver optimal experiences to advertisers and end users. TVREV’s Alan Wolk, Vevo’s Julie Triolo, Estrella MediaCo’s Christina Chung, Advertiser Perceptions’ Erin Firneno, and Mad Leo Consulting’s C.J. Leonard discuss the current challenges facing OTT and CTV publishers and advertisers alike in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.
The need for technology to catch up to new measurement demands
Wolk asks the group, “What metrics are people not getting? What are some of the issues that you're seeing?”
“One of the things with streaming measurement is we want to get down to the user or the household, and we want to know that that person's holding that device, and we're just not there yet,” C.J. Leonard says. “I've been waiting on the technology to catch up. We have the dream; technology is getting there. I've been working with AWS over the last few months in different areas where the processing power of the log-level data and so forth would allow you to do a lot of this. It's getting to the price point that publishers can engage with advertisers and actually have a coherent conversation.”
Why audience attention is an important metric
Wolk asks Triolo what sort of measurement issues Vevo sees as a publisher.
“There's been a seismic shift in the industry in terms of how we keep up with consumer expectations on these platforms,” Triolo says. “And I think publishers, platforms, and programmers have been chasing after that customer journey. And so when we think about how to create better experiences in these environments, both for advertisers and our fans, we want to think about what is really engaging them.”
She emphasizes that attention has become a major focus of Vevo's measurement. “We're doing a test case in the UK,” she says. “We've worked with TVision extensively and seen some really great growth and measurement there over one quarter looking at three different verticals and the way that our consumers really engage with our content. So I've been more focused on the attention piece. I think it's a really meaningful measurement.”
How cross-platform effectiveness is the holy grail for advertisers
Wolk says to Firneno of Advertiser Perceptions, “One of the things I've heard from people is that they find it's hard with all these different measurements to do apples-to-apples comparisons. They're getting different metrics from different people, which are all great, but they're like, ‘How do I match these up so it all makes sense?’ Are you finding that as well?”
Firneno says that is definitely the case. “Advertisers are looking for engagement metrics. They're looking for outcomes in their CTV advertising. They'd like to have attribution. One of the holy grails is understanding cross-platform effectiveness and having visibility into their buys across the different streaming providers [with both] CTV and linear TV. So that has been very difficult, and it is one of the major asks of advertisers.”
The importance of buy side and sell side collaboration
Wolk asks Chung of Estrella MediaCo, “Are you finding that attention for Estella's customers is something that [advertisers] are very concerned with? And what are some of the other big asks that you're getting in terms of measurement?”
“I think there's an opportunity for both the buy side and the sell side to work closer together,” Chung says. “I find that right now there is a bit of a schism in terms of what are the definitions, what are these actual metrics, what is actually important, what does an outcome even mean? I think that there's a definitional opportunity in the industry right now to define what those even mean to each partner of ours to make sure that as a publisher, we can accommodate what the buy side wants to have and vice versa.”
Join us in November 2024 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect.
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