Season 2 Episode 8
Navigating the Complex World of Media Measurement with Jon Watts of CIMM

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RESOURCES   ❯   The Marketing Rapport Podcast

Episode Summary

In this episode of Marketing Rapport, host Tim Finnigan welcomes Jon Watts, Managing Director at the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) They dive into the evolving landscape of media measurement, discussing CIMM’s strategic initiatives to enhance cross-platform TV measurement and advertising standards. Jon outlines CIMM’s history, its role in shaping media innovation, and the coalition’s renewed focus on improving measurement accuracy and data quality in an increasingly digital environment.

Jon shares insights on the challenges and advancements in media metrics, emphasizing the necessity of integrating diverse data sources to achieve comprehensive market analytics. He highlights the significance of collaboration within the industry to foster measurement standards that reflect the current media consumption trends.

The conversation also explores future directions for media measurement, including the integration of gaming and out-of-home video consumption into existing frameworks. Jon’s expertise sheds light on the complexities of media data and the ongoing efforts to refine the precision of media metrics in advertising and broadcasting.

Guest-at-a-Glance

Key Insights

• CIMM’s Strategic Reset and Expansion Under Jon Watts Under Jon Watts’ leadership, CIMM (Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement) has undergone a significant transformation to adapt to the changing landscape of media measurement. Initially focused on enhancing cross-platform TV measurement, CIMM has expanded its remit to include setting standards for advertising and content metadata. This adaptation addresses the rapid evolution of TV and video consumption, emphasizing data integration and multi-currency environments. Jon’s narrative underscores the coalition’s commitment to fostering innovation through a strategic review, leading to the launch of “CIMM 2.0,” which aims to better serve the industry’s emerging needs.
• Jon Watts Advocates for Integrative Approaches to Media Measurement Jon Watts discusses the critical need for an integrative approach to media metrics, blending traditional panels with extensive data sets from various digital sources. This necessity stems from the increasing complexity of consumer media consumption across multiple platforms, which complicates the measurement process. Jon emphasizes that while the industry has made significant strides in improving measurement tools, the journey towards a holistic understanding of the media landscape is ongoing. The future of media measurement, he suggests, lies in effectively combining different methodologies to capture a more accurate and comprehensive view of viewer behavior and media value.
• Exploring New Frontiers in Media Measurement with Jon Watts Jon Watts highlights the exciting potential for new measurement opportunities in areas like gaming and out-of-home video consumption, which are often overlooked by traditional TV measurement solutions. As media consumption continues to evolve, the demand for innovative measurement techniques that can accurately reflect user engagement across these new platforms is increasing. Jon articulates a vision where the future of media measurement not only keeps pace with technological advancements but also anticipates changes in consumer behavior, thereby ensuring that the industry can effectively adapt to and capitalize on these emerging trends.

Episode Highlights

CIMM’s Foundational Influence on Media Measurement Standards
Timestamp: [00:01:48]

Jon Watts explains the foundation and purpose of CIMM, emphasizing its critical role in promoting innovations in cross-platform TV measurement. He outlines the coalition’s original goals and how these have expanded to meet the needs of a digitalizing world, including setting standards for attribution and metadata. This foundation sets the stage for understanding CIMM’s pivotal position in the media industry.

“CIMM has actually been around since the late 2000s. It was originally founded by a group of TV researchers from the major studios who brought together their companies to form a coalition focused very much on promoting innovations in cross-platform TV measurement.”

Navigating the Complexities of Data Integration
Timestamp: [00:09:10]

Jon discusses the significant challenge of integrating diverse data sources to provide a holistic view of the media landscape. He stresses the importance of combining traditional panels with emerging digital data sources to capture a complete picture of viewer behavior, acknowledging the complexities this integration entails.

“We’re measuring far more things. So I think it’s in and across the industry. There is now a consensus that the future of measurement is very much about knitting together panels, which provide great insights into who’s watching.”

The Critical Role of Identity Resolution in Effective Advertising
Timestamp: [00:14:48]

Jon elaborates on the importance of identity resolution in advertising, linking it to the effectiveness of data-driven marketing strategies. He highlights a study conducted by CIMM and Truthset, focusing on the accuracy of household email match rates, which illustrates the challenges and implications of identity resolution in media measurement.

“What they found is a very wide variety across the companies in their collective. So on average, across that base, only about 53 percent match the email addresses they estimate to be correctly matched with a postal address.”

Preparing for the Future of Media Measurement
Timestamp: [00:24:48]

Towards the end of the conversation, Jon discusses the future-oriented initiatives of CIMM, especially in terms of preparing the industry for emerging challenges like the measurement of streaming data and the integration of new types of media such as gaming and VR. He expresses excitement about the potential for standardization and better metrics across these new frontiers.

“The goal of the study is very straightforward. We want to map out the identity ecosystem in the U. S. marketplace. We want to look at how that ecosystem feeds different use cases.”

Top Quotes

[00:03:28] Jon Watts: “We’re here to support improvements, best practices and innovations in three key areas. Number one, measurement and currency development; secondly, data collaboration and enablement; and thirdly, new metrics.”

[00:09:58] Jon Watts: “The challenge is that none of this data is perfect. There is no complete census level data covering the whole of the U.S. marketplace. Data has holes in it.”

[00:16:28] Jon Watts: “If we’re transacting on data, which is poor quality, it doesn’t always necessarily turn out to be a huge disaster, as long as you get some of your intended audience.”

[00:10:57] Jon Watts: “Let’s just fix the basics first. We’ve moved a very long way from the old world of purely broadcast only channels being measured by only panels, but we’re still building out the future.”

[00:17:20] Jon Watts: “It takes a lot of time and expert resources. It’s getting easier through practice but we don’t really have standards or easy ways of supporting data collaboration.”