 "Tech plays a critical role in audience measurement: Eric Salama")
We are now at a point where we can follow the content and understand where and how it is consumed, Eric Salama tells Vanita Kohli-Khandekar
Why does it seem as if metrics are unable to help content creators and platforms better monetise their offering?
Famous internet analyst Mary Meeker has made some predictions about the US, one of them being about the time people spend on mobile devices, where we see a disconnect between the share of advertising and time spent. Press, for example, gets a disproportionately higher share of revenue than the amount of time spent reading newspapers and magazines. Second, technology is evolving and we are now at the point where we can follow the content and understand where and how it is consumed.
Can one draw a correlation between the ability to get blended metrics measuring all audiences and ad revenue increases?
Yes, there is a correlation. We have seen that viewing increases as the number of platforms increases. All markets that have credible metrics have seen a growth in advertising revenues.
There is this whole question of technology for measurement - how does a market research firm take the right call?
You have to take a long-term and a short-term view. If it is too long term, you could become paralysed. We are always trying to do the right thing for now. We invested in technology for mobile and have an outlook of two to three years. A five to six years outlook might change things dramatically. It was a good call to invest in technology that would allow us to measure viewing on other devices at home, not just the TV set. We have also invested heavily in measuring mobile behavioural data but as of now there is a little revenue in it.
Does technology make life easier for a market research firm? Please tell us three things that make it easier and three that make it more difficult.
We need people who are tech savvy, we need to make bigger capex investments and we need to take a long-term view to set a course and invest. We are moving away from being a service business built solely around people and their thinking and infuse technology in everything we do.
Do the technology calls you make sitting in the UK work across markets? Are these scalable decisions? Could you share a couple of examples.
Yes. Our approach to measuring media is scalable. For example, the meters we use to measure tablets or the technology that we use to scan purchases and capture receipts. But there are things, which are not scalable and that we need to do market by market. For example, we are getting more loyalty card data and more telecom carrier data. This approach is scalable but the partners and sources of data are largely at a country level.
What are the major challenges that a global market research firm, operating in fiercely local markets, faces?
Getting the balance right between scaling and doing things globally (and in the process giving clients the best global thinking) is a big challenge. Second, it is important to understand the local needs and giving people the freedom to decide locally.
What are the big changes in audience measurement given the way the market is moving?
One, is the need to combine panel data with census data (that is for all set-top-boxes or STBs). We are looking to do that around the world. We are the largest STB player. We have deals in 20markets with cable and satellite firms and with STB makers to collect data minute by minute. Big data allows us to get to niche channels and brands, panel data allows us to understand the audience and its interactions with content. And in all of this we try and combine purchase and media data to understand ROI (return on investment) and marketing effectiveness issues. Our Rentrak deal in the US enhances our ability to do this in the country.
Two, following the content. Taking content that might appear first on a TV screen and following its consumption across online and other platforms.
Three, cross media. Work with content creators on what works across platforms. The Dutch industry has launched the first tender in the world for cross media measurement which I am very glad to say we won. And with the ComScore deal, our aim is to do this kind of work globally. What people are measuring is different. Agencies are not buying shows, they are buying audiences. The nature of planning and buying is also changing. There is now programmatic buying on TV. (Programmatic is automated planning, buying and placement of advertising).
Given digital and the growth of programmatic, does sample based audience measurement still work?
Yes it does. Believe it or not sampling is a science that works, as we know, from a range of areas, including political polling, media measurement, purchase intention, surveys.
THE INSIGHT MINER
Why does it seem as if metrics are unable to help content creators and platforms better monetise their offering?
Famous internet analyst Mary Meeker has made some predictions about the US, one of them being about the time people spend on mobile devices, where we see a disconnect between the share of advertising and time spent. Press, for example, gets a disproportionately higher share of revenue than the amount of time spent reading newspapers and magazines. Second, technology is evolving and we are now at the point where we can follow the content and understand where and how it is consumed.
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To cite an example, we do audience measurement for BARB (Broadcasters Audience Research Board, the UK industry body). We measure TV ratings, time-shifted programmes and online consumption on the BBC iPlayer, PC, laptop and tablet. It took us 18 months from the time BARB commissioned it to when we could deliver all these numbers. But we will not stop there. We also have a partnership with Twitter where we publish Twitter TV ratings and in a market like the UK, we now understand how tweets affect viewing patterns on TV. Further, with our investment in ComScore, we will be able to deliver cross-media measurement across TV and the web. As an aside, that is my concern for BARC (the Broadcast Audience Research Council, the Indian body) and the Indian industry. We are at the cutting edge of audience measurement - but is that BARC's business and will BARC be able to keep up?
Can one draw a correlation between the ability to get blended metrics measuring all audiences and ad revenue increases?
Yes, there is a correlation. We have seen that viewing increases as the number of platforms increases. All markets that have credible metrics have seen a growth in advertising revenues.
There is this whole question of technology for measurement - how does a market research firm take the right call?
You have to take a long-term and a short-term view. If it is too long term, you could become paralysed. We are always trying to do the right thing for now. We invested in technology for mobile and have an outlook of two to three years. A five to six years outlook might change things dramatically. It was a good call to invest in technology that would allow us to measure viewing on other devices at home, not just the TV set. We have also invested heavily in measuring mobile behavioural data but as of now there is a little revenue in it.
Does technology make life easier for a market research firm? Please tell us three things that make it easier and three that make it more difficult.
We need people who are tech savvy, we need to make bigger capex investments and we need to take a long-term view to set a course and invest. We are moving away from being a service business built solely around people and their thinking and infuse technology in everything we do.
Do the technology calls you make sitting in the UK work across markets? Are these scalable decisions? Could you share a couple of examples.
Yes. Our approach to measuring media is scalable. For example, the meters we use to measure tablets or the technology that we use to scan purchases and capture receipts. But there are things, which are not scalable and that we need to do market by market. For example, we are getting more loyalty card data and more telecom carrier data. This approach is scalable but the partners and sources of data are largely at a country level.
What are the major challenges that a global market research firm, operating in fiercely local markets, faces?
Getting the balance right between scaling and doing things globally (and in the process giving clients the best global thinking) is a big challenge. Second, it is important to understand the local needs and giving people the freedom to decide locally.
What are the big changes in audience measurement given the way the market is moving?
One, is the need to combine panel data with census data (that is for all set-top-boxes or STBs). We are looking to do that around the world. We are the largest STB player. We have deals in 20markets with cable and satellite firms and with STB makers to collect data minute by minute. Big data allows us to get to niche channels and brands, panel data allows us to understand the audience and its interactions with content. And in all of this we try and combine purchase and media data to understand ROI (return on investment) and marketing effectiveness issues. Our Rentrak deal in the US enhances our ability to do this in the country.
Two, following the content. Taking content that might appear first on a TV screen and following its consumption across online and other platforms.
Three, cross media. Work with content creators on what works across platforms. The Dutch industry has launched the first tender in the world for cross media measurement which I am very glad to say we won. And with the ComScore deal, our aim is to do this kind of work globally. What people are measuring is different. Agencies are not buying shows, they are buying audiences. The nature of planning and buying is also changing. There is now programmatic buying on TV. (Programmatic is automated planning, buying and placement of advertising).
Given digital and the growth of programmatic, does sample based audience measurement still work?
Yes it does. Believe it or not sampling is a science that works, as we know, from a range of areas, including political polling, media measurement, purchase intention, surveys.
THE INSIGHT MINER
- Salama is an Oxford graduate. He was the speechwriter and worker with the UK's Labour party before joining The Henley Centre. He later become the head of strategy for the WPP group before taking over as the CEO of Kantar Group in 2003
- Kantar Group houses research firms such as Millward Brown, TNS, Kantar Media, Kantar Worldpanel, Added Value and The Futures Company. Collectively these offer a rounded view of how consumers in more than hundred countries live, shop, vote, watch and tweet
- Kantar Group itself is a part of Martin Sorrell-run £11.5 billion WPP, the world's largest marketing services company. In India Kantar has several businesses including IMRB and part-ownership of TAM