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As many of you know, The Advertising Research Foundation had their annual audienceXscience conference this week. We’re huge fans of the work the ARF does to promote education, innovation, and challenges to the status quo. We saw a lot of inspiring work presented. There was lots of discussion about the shifting consumer media experience creating needs for shifts in media measurement as you might expect, considering recent news around incumbent solutions such as Nielsen.
NBCU’s Kelly Abcarian’s keynote (recording here) called for a revolution in media measurement, and this demand to the industry is music to our ears, not only because we were mentioned as a key player in the opportunities for reforming the ecosystem but because she and others look at this critical mind shift as a team sport in the industry and a challenge to think about today’s problems with new solutions.
Kelly said a few really meaningful points in her thoughtful presentation.
If we want “freedom for the consumer and the best choice for advertisers….measurement independence won't happen overnight. We need to radially shift our mindset.”
“Our futures depend on data accuracy.”
“Bad data means bad deals” for both buyers and sellers.
“What if we could all work together and use the power of already established data sources to increase the accuracy (of targeted advertising)? And what if we built on that accuracy to generate an even better return for marketers? What if there was a company out there so innovative, they’re already doing this right now? Meet Truthset.”
Radha Subramanyam’s (of CBS) interview discussion highlighted the issues we see with multicultural measurement, mainly how “we’re only scratching the surface” and “panels are woefully inadequate in measurement when it comes to diversity.” Truthset’s methodology of using both panels and big data assets to measure accuracy and coverage of multicultural audiences introduces new solutions to this age-old problem. We love to see issues like this on stage as there’s so much opportunity for the industry to make real strides towards media equality.
We won’t crow too much about our own accepted presentation, but suffice to say, Kat, Aaron, and Joel’s work on “How Truthscores Can Significantly Improve the Accuracy of Addressable Marketing” laid out a clear need for a data accuracy standard in the advertising and measurement industry, given the opportunity for inaccurate data to waste spend and decrease advertisers ability to reach their audiences. Most importantly, the session showed the rationale for using validated data as it improves targeting accuracy. If you want to learn more about the easiest, one-click way to implement check out our announcement with 180byTwo of syndicated segments.
In short, it was a great event full of bold topics and innovative ideas. The industry has some great opportunities to make revolutionary moves and we are thrilled to be a part of it and looking forward to participating in person again in 2022