Joint study commissioned by CIMM, 4A’s and ANA, and led by Deloitte, explores industry perspectives on the transition to a multi-currency national TV market
Research highlights how different constituencies are experiencing the transition at different rates with different challenges
NEW YORK, NY January 11, 2023 – As the TV industry shifts to a multi-currency marketplace, the primary perceived benefit is improved integration of cross-platform inventory to better enable transacting and counting of all ad delivery and audiences across all forms of viewing. However, lack of collaboration, new demands on systems, and process changes are creating roadblocks in the transition.
This is according to a new study on the transition to a multi-currency TV advertising market commissioned by the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), 4A’s and ANA. Conducted by Deloitte*, the study examines the benefits and challenges for different categories of industry participants and aims to help establish priorities for industry collaboration and cooperation.
Based on research with a cross-section of industry participants, the study also reveals:
- The transition is not a monolithic experience: Constituents are making the transition at different rates, with different challenges, and often have different goals.
- The transition is happening in phases: The currencies (and challengers) in the transition continue to progress in phases from new to alternative to advanced.
- The industry is in a “test and learn” phase: Players are conducting early trials, experimenting, and undertaking early systems integrations.
- Multi-currency is the future of the premium TV/video marketplace: Most industry participants expect to see two to three currency-grade TV measurement vendors, potentially up to five – but no more.
- Panels are still relevant: The majority perspective is that big data alone is not the future of measurement – and panels will continue to play a critical role in currencies. However, perspectives about the appropriate use cases for a panel vary and include uses such as calibration, personification, or validation.
- Standards and collaboration are the catalyst for acceleration: Identifying the common challenges and collaborating on solutions can help overcome the barriers to adoption of advanced currencies. However, most advanced currency collaboration is occurring across constituencies (e.g., network to agency) and not within constituencies (e.g., agency to agency) which has limited benefits for sharing best practices and accelerating the transition.
“The TV market is changing rapidly thanks to shifting consumer preferences, new data sets, distribution channels, monetization approaches and advertising models,“ said Ashwini Karandikar, EVP Media, Technology & Data, 4A’s. “TV measurement and currency have also evolved, but at a slower pace, resulting in an incomplete picture of unduplicated delivery and reach and frequency of ad campaigns. This, coupled with the pandemic and streaming wars, has altered the landscape and hastened change. Though the industry is in transition, and the future of TV currency is yet to be determined, the study reinforces how important collaboration, standardization, and consensus-building will be in the industry’s acceleration toward a multi-currency market.”
The study also identified how different organizations are at varying engagement levels of the multi-currency transition depending on their resource allocation and incentives to change:
- National TV networks are driven by more accurate representation of viewership and the potential for sales upside and yield gains. They have a very high level of engagement, with some variance largely based on the size and resources of the network.
- Advertisers have a wide spectrum of motivations and engagement levels. Many large and sophisticated advertisers are driven by better measurement that will connect their TV spend to their overall marketing strategy, and potentially increased return on marketing investment. Other advertisers are motivated by preserving the rate benefits or risk asymmetry of the legacy models and therefore have low incentives and engagement.
- Media Agencies are driven by better measurement for clients and by cost and loss avoidance. Agencies have a moderate and tempered level of engagement.
“It’s exciting to see a consensus emerging across the industry that the multi-currency transition has a potential to deliver real benefits, including better measurement of cross-platform video services, new transaction opportunities, and a faster pace of innovation,” said Jon Watts, Managing Director, CIMM. “This is all hugely positive. At the same time, it’s clear that unlocking the full potential of the transition will require investment, careful experimentation, commercial flexibility and a willingness to take risks. Our priority at CIMM is to support the entire ecosystem, and this study provides tremendous clarity about where and how best to focus our efforts.”
Deloitte interviewed 50 industry leaders and subject matter experts across six constituencies, and used qualitative analysis to find patterns and to identify perspectives on the transition. The exploratory approach and industry level perspective enabled the identification of the forces driving change, outline the benefits and challenges facing different categories of industry participants, and suggest priorities for industry collaboration and cooperation.
“Through our research, we identified that organizations are at different levels of engagement in the multi-currency transition depending on their motivations, incentives to change, and resources available to commit to the transition,” said Mike Dean, Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP. “Looking at the experiences and perspectives of those engaged in and driving the transition across the national TV marketplace has helped us to understand the dynamics and the relationships between constituencies, the processes that connect them, and the actions needed to go forward.”
“One area of broad agreement among the constituencies is the need for certain common foundational standards to help ensure non-proprietary aspects are aligned and to reduce inconsistency and variance,” said Jackson Bazley, EVP, Measurement for Marketers, Data & Analytics, ANA. “It also underscores marketers’ and the ANA’s desire for neutral, objective, and transparent measurement solutions that are standards driven and validated through accreditation.”
To download the full study, visit: Industry perspectives on the transition to a multi-currency TV market
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
About the ANA
The ANA’s (Association of National Advertisers) mission is to drive growth for marketing professionals, brands and businesses, the industry, and humanity. The ANA serves the marketing needs of 20,000 brands by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed by the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA’s membership consists of U.S. and international companies, including client-side marketers, nonprofits, fundraisers, and marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). The ANA creates Marketing Growth Champions by serving, educating, and advocating for more than 50,000 industry members that collectively invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.
About the 4A’s
The 4A’s was established in 1917 to promote, advance, and defend the interests of our member agencies, employees and the advertising and marketing industries overall. We empower our members to drive commerce, spark connections, and shape culture through infinite creativity. With a focus on advocacy, talent and the value of creativity and technology to drive business growth and cultural change, the organization serves 600+ member agencies across 1,200 offices, which help direct more than 85% of total U.S. advertising spend. The 4A’s includes the 4A’s Benefits division, which insures more than 160,000 employees; the government relations team, who advocate for policies to support the industry; and the 4A’s Foundation, which advocates for and connects multicultural talent to the marketing industry by fostering a culture of curiosity, creativity and craft to fuel a more equitable future for the industry.
*Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure.
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