Consumer Data’s Critical Role in the Future of Media Measurement

By Tim Finnigan, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Verisk Marketing Solutions   

Measuring media and ad consumption has become increasingly challenging with the influx of content channels and fragmented devices. This can be even more complex with the evolving consumer data privacy laws, but also creates opportunity to respect consumers and offer them a better experience.

So, how do measurement companies add value for clients while increasing their own market share, especially as new competitors enter the field? In recent months, I’ve had the privilege of sitting down with some of the brightest minds in media measurement to discuss these challenges, and how they’re paving the path toward solving them.

Seeing a Fuller Picture

Audience panels and subscriber networks such as Nielsen and MRI-Simmons yield important insights, but gaining a truly accurate, actionable picture of consumers requires the expertise of a consumer identity data specialist.

During our recent session on Verisk Marketing Solutions’ The Marketing Rapport podcast, Jon Watts, Managing Director at the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), highlighted the challenge of panels: “They provide great insights into who’s watching…but they’re never going to be big enough in a fragmented marketplace if you’ve got thousands of video services you’re trying to measure […] we have to combine panels with TV datasets. The challenge, of course, is that none of the data is perfect…data has holes in it.”

Kelly Barrett, SVP of Product at Comscore, Inc., echoed a similar sentiment during our podcast discussion last year. “I’m a staunch believer that no one in this industry is going to have all the answers by themselves. It’s a team sport, especially measurement. While Comscore sits on massive quantities of data, we also rely on partners to make sure that data can be actionable and in the right place.”

With a strong partner, measurement companies can better determine which consumer belongs to which device and household, and who most likely watched a show or viewed an ad. This is particularly critical considering the fragmentation that dominates consumption today. For example, each U.S. household connected to the internet now has an average of 17 connected devices, ranging from smartphones to smart TVs to security systems, according to research from Parks Associates.

Benefits of Integrating Consumer Data

Media measurement providers who complement traditional panels with more holistic consumer data gain the ability to deliver more accurate, consistently reliable and valuable audience measurement and analytics services.

This allows providers to:

• Match identity data with ad exposure data to help advertisers optimize their strategies
• Identify and measure cross-platform and cross-device user journeys for deeper insights into behaviors
• Build representative samples of specific target audiences for advertisers

Staying Ahead

Like so much of the adtech world, the pace of change in the media measurement space is relentless. We’re already seeing alternative consumption channels like virtual reality and gaming making their way into the measurement mix.

Without question, the future is brightest for those measurement companies who build channel-agnostic solutions through partnerships and collaborative data sharing.

At Verisk Marketing Solutions, measurement providers license our consumer data to gain a privacy-conscious, census-level view of nearly all U.S. consumers and households. Measurement companies can use this information to:

• Utilize behavioral attributes for targeting consumers with personalized messaging
• Increase ROI for their customers
• Improve audience segmentation