CIMM Establishes Five New Working Groups to Support Cross-Media Measurement

December 6, 2022

Industry leaders from NBCUniversal, TransUnion, Janus Strategy & Insights, Data ImpacX and Anonymous Media Research selected as Working Group Chairs

New York, NY (December 6, 2022) – The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), the US-based collaboration of companies focused on promoting innovation in media measurement, metrics and data, today announced five new Working Groups and the appointment of their respective industry leader Chairs.

The Working Groups, established in conjunction with CIMM’s five priority areas as determined by its Board of Directors and Steering Committee, and Chairs are:

  • Cross-Media Measurement – Focused on exploring topics core to CIMM’s mission of improving cross-platform TV and video measurement
    • Chair: Howard Shimmel, President, Janus Strategy & Insights
  • Multi-Currency – In support of the transition to a multi-currency TV market
    • Chair: Joan FitzGerald, Founder and CEO, Data ImpacX
  • Content – Content research and measurement across the TV marketplace (from ratings and metadata to analytics)
    • Chair: Lisa Heimann, EVP, Analytics, Insights & Measurement, NBCUniversal
  • TV Data – Optimizing and supporting the new TV data ecosystem (from data quality, IDR, and matching processes to clean room infrastructure and attribution)
    • Chair: Jonathan Steuer, CEO and Co-Founder at Anonymous Media Research
  • CTV/Streaming/Programmatic Measurement and metrics across the CTV, streaming and programmatic ecosystem
    • Chair: Frans Vermeulen, VP, Strategy & Market Development, Media Vertical, TransUnion

“To ensure that effective media measurement keeps pace with the rapidly changing media environment, it is imperative that we as an industry work together and collaborate on the areas of most importance,” said Jon Watts, Managing Director, CIMM. “Our new Working Groups are designed to do just that, and I am very pleased to welcome our fantastic Chairs, all of whom are uniquely equipped to support CIMM in our effort to fund, test and develop new ideas that promote innovation and explore new high quality ways to measure audiences across traditional and new media.” 

The Chairs were selected based on their research experience, domain expertise, and are actively engaged with CIMM. In addition to identifying and evaluating research priorities and proposals, the Working Group Chairs have joined the CIMM Steering Committee as non-voting members. 

“As a longstanding advocate for evolving content measurement, I look forward to working with my industry colleagues to make real progress in this changing landscape through innovation that helps unlock key insights,” said Lisa Heimann, EVP, Analytics, Insights & Measurement, NBCUniversal. “The new content committee is a nice complement to the ARF’s LA Council, which was created to support companies who optimize all the great content that exists and will exist for decades to come.”

“It’s an exciting time for the video industry, as we progress to a multi-currency future with more flexibility and options in video transactions,” Joan FitzGerald, Founder and CEO, Data ImpacX. “I look forward to collaborating with industry leadership through the CIMM working group to facilitate this important transition.”

“The industry has made great strides in how we plan, activate and measure cross-platform campaigns,” said Howard Shimmel, President, Janus Strategy & Insights and Head of Strategy, datafuelX. “But as the media landscape continues to become more complex, we need to ensure that measurement innovates to support media companies and agencies alike. CIMM has made immense contributions to the state of cross media measurement and I look forward to helping CIMM continue to tackle this immense challenge”. 

“As TV transitions to an audience-addressable medium, measurement will become more integrated with targeting and activation workflows, leveraging the same people-based big data sets to help buyers and sellers realize the full potential of “digital” TV,” said Frans Vermeulen, VP of Strategy & Market Development, Media Vertical, TransUnion. “The diversity of companies in the CIMM working groups reflects the importance of connectivity and collaboration to the future of measurement.” 

“More progress has been made in deploying advanced datasets for TV planning and measurement in the past 18 months than in my previous two decades in this area,” said Jonathan Steuer, CEO and Co-Founder of Anonymous Media Research. “I’m excited to continue to move the industry forward even faster by building on the work Jon Watts, Alan Wolk and I began with the TV Data Initiative under the auspices of CIMM’s working-group structure. Our research showed there is a clear need for industry cooperation to address issues around consumer privacy and consent, identity resolution, data quality, and integration into business workflows. CIMM is a perfect umbrella under which to foster such collaboration, and I am excited to be part of that effort.”  

The Working Groups are actively looking for research and project proposals. For more information about CIMM’s Working Groups or to submit a proposal, contact: info@cimm-us.org 

About CIMM

The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) is comprised of leading TV and video content providers, media buying agencies, large advertisers, pay TV distributors, research and media technology vendors and consultants that aim to promote innovation and foster efficiencies in audience measurement for television and cross-platform video. In 2018, CIMM was acquired by the ARF (Advertising Research Foundation), with the goal of expanding the categories of members as well as its initiatives. CIMM initiatives to date have included exploration and identification of new methodologies in cross-platform audience measurement, with verification of these approaches through pilot tests and studies conducted with independent measurement companies. CIMM’s focus has been on two key areas: the current and future potential of television measurement through the use of return-path data, and new methods for cross-platform media measurement. For more information, visit www.cimm-us.org