Experiate does great thought piece on measurement

Tue, Apr 14, 2009

Paul Flanigan is a relative newcomer to the digital signage blogging community, but almost immediately started writing one of the more interesting ones, called Experiate. He runs the in-store screen network for Best Buy and spends his time thinking (and some spare time writing) about content and the impact of screens. Flanigan has a lengthy post this morning raising questions about the timing and merits of audience measurement, combining his own thoughts with quotes cherry-picked from a bunch of industry smarty-pants. At a time when technology and content are finally developing a synergy that enhances the experience, is it truly imperative that we start measuring right away? This industry is growing so fast that any statistical measurement done today could be obsolete within a few years, if not a few months. Network operators and venues are in no hurry to become metric compliant; media planners and buyers don’t fully understand the medium yet; agencies are still working toward a full understanding of creative and compelling communication techniques for OOH; OVAB is trying to enforce compliance with only a few dozen members; and there are other companies out there with different and perhaps stronger methods for measurement and definition. This feels like I should grade my daughter on calculus while she’s still learning to count to 10. Good stuff, and very relevant, compelling questions. I agree with Paul that the argument for audience measurement as it is now done is flawed, particularly as it relates to retail networks that are more about sales impact and shopper experience. But for full-on ad networks, SOMETHING, ANYTHING is needed to at least start herding the cats and creating some commonality in how networks sell themselves. The elephant in the room, though, when measurement results come in is the discussion around how many people are actually watching versus the raw numbers that have been used to tout audience size.

Tags: brochure, Experiate, industry, market, News, nine, ovab, Paul Flanigan, press, press release, sixteen

1 Comments For This Post

Emerald Marino Says:
April 15th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

I agree that this was a thought provoking article that will generate great discussions about the efficiency of measuring audiences. I think that the entire Digital Signage industry is broken from an efficiency standpoint–which is why advertisers don’t spend significant media budgets on it.

Though Paul’s claims are solid, I would argue that measurement is essential no matter what time period we’re in–whether it be a time of crisis, adjustment, growth, or abundance. Measurement simply helps us do things better the next time around. Data is data. Intel is intel and we need a whole lot of it before things even start to make sense.

Do you think that if there were no measurement initiatives for the next three years, we would be better off? Rather than to take a deeper look at what initiatives have worked or not worked, and assessed what would make them better? I would argue that this would give us a head start at that three year mark. I think this is the critical question, because I am a believer that marketing intelligence, like so many other core competencies, takes time to evolve, grow, and to become smarter, stronger, and faster.

Regardless, measurement companies will not stop doing business. I do agree with Paul in a sense that any company that says, “this is it… we have the answer, and we are shoving it down your throat whether you like it or not,” are obviously not taking the right approach. It’s a matter of collaboration with thought leaders in the space. If major influencers and key decision makers in the advertising space we’re to get together with networks to help build a solution to help them understand how to buy digital out of home more efficiently–we would all be so much better off.

Emerald Marino Says:
April 15th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I agree that this was a thought provoking article that will generate great discussions about the efficiency of measuring audiences. I think that the entire Digital Signage industry is broken from an efficiency standpoint–which is why advertisers don’t spend significant media budgets on it.

Though Paul’s claims are solid, I would argue that measurement is essential no matter what time period we’re in–whether it be a time of crisis, adjustment, growth, or abundance. Measurement simply helps us do things better the next time around. Data is data. Intel is intel and we need a whole lot of it before things even start to make sense.

Do you think that if there were no measurement initiatives for the next three years, we would be better off? Rather than to take a deeper look at what initiatives have worked or not worked, and assessed what would make them better? I would argue that this would give us a head start at that three year mark. I think this is the critical question, because I am a believer that marketing intelligence, like so many other core competencies, takes time to evolve, grow, and to become smarter, stronger, and faster.

Regardless, measurement companies will not stop doing business. I do agree with Paul in a sense that any company that says, “this is it… we have the answer, and we are shoving it down your throat whether you like it or not,” are obviously not taking the right approach. It’s a matter of collaboration with thought leaders in the space. If major influencers and key decision makers in the advertising space we’re to get together with networks to help build a solution to help them understand how to buy digital out of home more efficiently–we would all be so much better off.

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Experiate does great thought piece on measurement

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