NEW YORK — Audience metrics should go beyond the traditional age and gender information of the past, measurement-industry executives on an “Advanced Advertising: Profiting From a Target Audience” panel said.
“The advertiser wants a simple segmentation that they can put into play,” Allant executive vice president, communications TV and media Eric Schmitt said on the panel moderated by Multichannel News editor-in-chief Mark Robichaux. He said he believes some money is leaving television in favor of more precise alternatives that provide more granular audience definitions.
While advertisers have acknowledged that they are willing to pay a premium for such information, measurement companies are facing challenges in delivering it. Part of that problem is assembling data from linear TV viewing, VOD, SVOD, online and mobile, all measured in different ways by different companies.
“It’s going to require new ways of looking at the TV marketplace,” said Rentrak president of national television Chris Wilson, adding that the idea is to take set-top box data, streaming information, and the like and combine it in a way to understand the total audience.
Nielsen senior vice president product leadership, national and cross-platform television audience measurement Brian Fuhrer said it is important to take information several different sources, including from traditional TV devices, set-top boxes and over-the-air antennas, as well as computers and game consoles.
“I have seen more change in the past year than at any time in my career,” Fuhrer said.
