3 Questions Marketers Should Be Asking About Alternative Currencies

You can’t invest in what you can’t measure. And in TV advertising, rarely has there been a more dynamic time for measurement. 

New currencies—agreed-upon units of value with which media buyers and sellers transact—are gaining traction in the market. On the heels of TV upfront season, here are three key questions marketers should ask to make sure they are getting the most out of new audience currencies.

Does your big data start with identity? 

Measurement outputs are only as good as their inputs. As the industry converges on big data for cross-screen measurement, we need to ensure big data starts with a direct consumer relationship. This means prioritizing data from real people in a privacy-centric way. However, today many big data sets lack a tie to actual identity data. They rely heavily on second-hand identifiers like IP addresses and modeled device graphs, limiting their accuracy and life span. If there is no connection to the customer, it will be difficult to accurately identify customer consumption habits. 

Accurate data collection requires trust, privacy and verification. Consumers must see the merit in sharing information—a reason to complete profiles accurately, an understanding of opt-ins and privacy policies, and respect for the data value exchange. Consumers deserve to know who to call with a concern or to request an update on their information. Without a direct consumer relationship, big data breaks down when attempting to measure audience reach for our industry. New currency solutions should be grounded in consumer trust.

How does panel data represent cordless homes? 

For many new audience currencies, big data is married to panel data as a grounding source of truth. But are today’s panels still truth sets of an increasingly fragmented audience? A decade ago, 82% of American homes had pay TV—today, it is less than half. This rapid acceleration of cord cutting requires a reassessment of panel response biases. 

All demographics equal, are cordless homes less likely to agree to join panels than their peers? We don’t yet know. A thorough research agenda across the industry to understand data quality will help increase trust in panel-backed audience measurement.

Additionally, many panels exclude homes that are valuable to media buyers and sellers. For instance, some panels do not measure secondary homes, temporary living or vacation homes—all residences that frequently lack pay TV and remain important for brands. These gaps leave marketers and content owners guessing how to reach and engage audiences, no matter where they are. New currencies should help close this gap.

Can your currency link reach measurement with outcomes?

Marketers no longer need to choose between upper funnel and lower funnel KPIs. Leading brands are focusing on the full consumer funnel—from the moment a consumer sees an ad on their TV to the purchase with their remote for delivery. This is an exciting opportunity for audience measurement. Marketers can activate from reach to reaction, and they’re now seeking closed loop measurement. In streaming, many brands are buying on audience and performance, transacting off cost per acquisition just like they do in search and social.

Philosopher and economist David Hume called causality, the relationship between cause and effect, “the cement of the universe.” It should now be the cement of new currencies too. Marketers deserve to understand how specific demographic audiences reached also drive incrementality and sales. This includes currency interoperability—making it easy to connect audience data with outcome data through APIs, clean rooms and server-to-server connections.

Ultimately, it’s an exciting time for the TV industry. Together, we have an opportunity to make measurement more accurate, useful and straightforward. Starting with data grounded in direct consumer relationships, shining a light on how the shift to streaming is impacting panel data and bringing together the full funnel can help make marketing work harder, and we can do it together.