Not that long ago TV was linear with just a handful of channels, and the only unit of measurement was the gross rating point (GRP), which dictated advertising costs and set CPMs. Fast-forward several decades and some things haven’t changed—linear TV still mostly relies on GRPs and measuring TV impact on sales is still a challenge. Those challenges have multiplied, especially given the limitless content consumption choices for consumers, causing massive viewership fragmentation within the TV advertising industry. Additionally, marketing leaders continue to hold their agencies accountable for TV CPMs rather than using metrics that reflect true consumer reach and sales KPIs.
The disruption of TV and the decay of linear reach is here. Technology gives consumers new ways to view TV content far beyond their living room antenna and provides a plethora of data for brands to activate against. Even so, TV ad planning and measurement often live within legacy tools built for a time when TV was linear only. That’s changing.
In a recent RampUp session, “Powering Next-Generation TV Measurement with the Largest Viewership Dataset,” Ethan Settel, Head of Customer Success, LiveRamp TV Measurement, was joined by Scott Yi, VP, Analytics Director at Havas Media, and Brad Backenstose, Managing Partner, Global Client Lead and Agency Leadership at Wavemaker to discuss navigating TV planning, buying, and measurement. They shared how cross-screen measurement platforms like LiveRamp’s Data Plus Math bridge the gap between old and new, helping them navigate the ever-expanding fragmented landscape.
With fragmentation on the rise, smarter measurement provides the foundation for effectively rewriting TV buying strategies. Cross-screen measurement provides new and more impactful metrics like sales lift, website visits, in-store visits, and more, demonstrating that CPMs are not always the best metric to hold an agency accountable for.
There’s never been a better time to experiment on TV. Viewership is up and it’s a buyers’ market. Christine Grammier, Head of Buy Side TV at LiveRamp, hosted a panel at RampUp featuring David Levy, CEO at OpenAP; Gibbs Haljun, Managing Director, Investment at groupm; and Ryan Willson, Principal Analyst, Digital Media Buying and Analytics at Liberty Mutual Insurance. During the session, “Rewriting TV Buying Strategies,” the panel shared their views on the current state of the television ecosystem and how they are working to rewrite their TV strategies to match the times we live in and the positive results they’ve been able to garner thus far.
While many marketers scramble to adjust to the new normal, some brands will use the Band-Aid approach and apply linear TV advertising measurement and planning tactics and push some investment to programmatic TV to check the CTV box. The ones who will prosper, however, are those who invest time and energy to understand the tools, implement cross-screen measurement, and build new processes to navigate the evolving ecosystem.