Mediasmith Anvil
	Volume 7, Issue 2                     March 27, 2008

A Look at Metrics Issues for 2008

(Editor’s note: We try to stay on top of industry metrics issues with both speaking and writing. This represents an update we try to do on a written basis annually)

Part I: The New Metrics Landscape

Every year, as we look ahead to metrics needs, the list is long. This year, the list seems especially long due to emerging media technologies. It seems like each new medium brings with it its own aspects to measure.

As I have written before, all media will be digital in the future. This also means that all media will be trackable. It won't be very far off before TV, radio, print and outdoor have digital tracking capabilities in place. Whether this turns all media into direct response vehicles remains to be seen. However, we do know that those on the client side want to measure ROI wherever they can.

Increased bandwidth and storage implications
Digitization will be enhanced by increased bandwidth, cheaper storage (an increasing number of vendors have announced terabyte-sized hard drives at affordable prices), multiple processors on a single chip (we already have quad, how high can this go?), massively parallel computing like that deployed effectively by Google and others, and capturing unused capacity through peer-to-peer computing where every machine on the net becomes a server. All of this will facilitate even greater consumer control and more consumer-generated content followed by consumer-generated advertising.

The increased power will also change the world of media research. Companies like Quantcast are already talking about census rather than sample for their research model. This means visibility of millions rather than tens of thousands of sites that comScore and NetRatings currently provide. It also could mean the application of concepts like cloud computing -- using massive computing power to slice and dice web analytics. Modeling of campaign effectiveness and econometrics modeling, formerly dependent upon market research sampling, will be outmoded by companies gathering digital information on a census basis.

Multiple attribution protocol
DoubleClick and Atlas have both been working on a process commonly known as multiple attribution protocol (MAP) or attribution management. As storage is cheap, we should now be able to keep all digital interactions of a consumer with a campaign in the data cube. Every view, every click, every visit to a site, whether click-through or view-through. One of the reasons search is so highly regarded is monetization. For many campaigns, the consumer sees a number of ads, visits the site and considers offers, but in the end, types in the product or service name at a search box to purchase or perform the advertised action. It has been well documented that if you just limit your campaign to search, less volume will result. Even if the search is clearly the best performing on a cost basis, it's not always scalable. MAP reporting and algorithms will permit us to take into account the underlying banner and other campaigns that happen prior to the final action. With this methodology, we'll be able to consider other actions besides the last click for partial attribution. DoubleClick has a reporting process in release now and Atlas is also releasing a reporting process into beta.

Mediasmith Morsel

According to recent research released from PQ Media, as reported by The Center for Media Research, spending on branded entertainment marketing grew 14.7% to an all-time high of $22.3 billion in 2007, nearly doubling in size as brand marketers continue to shift budgets from traditional advertising to alternative marketing strategies which include: event sponsorship and marketing, product placement, and advergaming and webisodes.

Key trends impacting each segment of branded entertainment include:

• Spending on event sponsorship and marketing rose 12.3% to $19.18 billion in 2007
• Paid product placement spending grew 33.7% to $2.90 billion in 2007, at a compound annual growth rate of 40.8% from 2002 to 2007
• Spending on advergaming and webisodes increased 34.8% to $217.0 million in 2007, fueled by efforts to reach the elusive 18-34-year-old demographic. Advergaming and webisodes are the fastest growing branded entertainment segment, climbing at a compound annual interest rate of 51.7% from 2002 to 2007

The market for branded entertainment is expected to expand another 13.9% in 2008 to $25.41 billion, despite slowing overall economic growth

*Source: Elusive Consumers Create Marketers’ Needs for Branded Entertainment

Part II: Can Metrics Catch Up With New Media Technologies’ Rapid Growth?

Analytics AOR
We continue to believe that advertisers will need a new agency of record (AOR) -- a single agency responsible for coordinating efforts across all agencies of a specific client -- soon. This will be an analytics AOR. Already, there are issues with multiple agencies claiming attribution for their various channels. Under MAP, there are going to be problems if there are multiple tags or multiple agencies responsible. If you doubt this, try launching a DRTV (direct response television) campaign, an ROI web campaign and a search campaign with three separate agency vendors. The new analytics AOR will need a dashboard so that the lead analytics agency, the other agencies and the client can all access and see the data they need to see when they need to see it.

Dashboards
Most of the newer analytics tools for emerging media technologies come with convenient dashboards for reporting. The more traditional tools such as third party ad servers need to play catch-up in this arena. And, there are a number of entities which are attempting to develop a global dashboard which will take inputs from all of your digital campaign sources. The ability to have a unified reporting dashboard, with different views for the analyst, manager and client will be necessary to deal with the ever increasing amount of data.

Emerging media technology metrics
As stated above, the new emerging media technologies all have their own aspects that need measurement. In addition, there needs to be some work to map these measurements back to "traditional web" metrics. Questions such as where does the opportunity to see the ad (OTS) occur, what are the proxies for clicks and is the viewing of a branding message within the new medium equivalent to a site visit need to be resolved. Some of this will be made easier by the fact that established companies like Nielsen and comScore are involved with ET metrics. In addition, Quantcast is very active in measuring videos, widgets and other flash-based media.

But there are many other companies involved in ET metrics. Companies like TubeMogul for viral video distribution, DoubleFusion and Massive for video games, Radian6 for social networks, Technorati, MotiveQuest and Umbria for blogging, Telephia (owned by Nielsen) for mobile, Edison for podcasting and many others including a lot of publisher- or provider-centric metrics.

All of these and other new resources that emerge need to be normalized within each category, and as they map back to other digital metrics.

The tasks ahead of us are significant. Not only do digital agencies and their clients need to spend time understanding the new metric landscape, there is a major need for involvement of all in order to achieve some semblance of standardization. If you have any interest in metrics at all, get involved with your national or regional associations. Insist that study and standardization be part of their agenda. Ensure that your organization is communicating with others in other countries. In the U.S., the IAB, AAAAs, ARF, MRC and ANA all have stakes in this arena. I-Com has proven to be a major venue for the digital metrics discussion on an International basis. In addition, there are growing associations for each of the ETs. I plan to continue to write and speak about these issues within various venues. I look forward to engaging others in a dialogue to move the metrics needle ahead and into the green.

Mediasmith Morsel

Recent analysis from Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms database reveals Consumer Product advertisements on Gaming sites tend to perform much better among women ages 45+ compared to younger females. The chart below shows the impact of CPG ads across various female age groups:

CPG Ads on Gaming Sites Among Women (Average Delta as a % of people impacted; n=23,205 respondents)
Age Group	Brand Favorability	Purchase Intent
18-34	1.5	3.7
35-44	0.0	4.2
45+	3.3	4.4
Source: Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms through Q3/2007, March 2008

The analysis offers things to consider when planning advertising on Gaming sites:

• Certain types of games appeal to people differently, which may in turn influence how different age groups perceive advertising and brands associated on these sites. Ad-supported free games on Web sites are often targeted towards a mass audience since these games are easy to learn and can be played in shorter sessions
• Targeting—As with online display advertising, targeting may be used to reach relevant demographics and age groups on various Gaming sites. By applying relevant targeting techniques, advertising campaigns could yield greater effectiveness among certain demographic audiences
• Mindset of Gamers—Brands on Gaming sites are engaging with people when they are in a different state of mind than when browsing other types of sites. Understanding the mindset of your audience is important if you want to successfully communicate to him or her

Additionally, 8.3 million women ages 45+ say they access the Internet to play online games, according to Focalyst from Millward Brown.

Source: Gaming Sites May be a Good Platform for CPG Brands to Persuade Women Ages 45+

A version of this article originally appeared in the Asia edition of imediaconnection earlier this year.

David L. Smith is CEO and Founder of Mediasmith, Inc. -- a full service advertising media agency, specializing in digital media with an increasing emphasis on emerging technologies. Mediasmith is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

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