5 / 60
Page 5
An introduction by Jan Isenbart, President of
egta and Research Director of Mediengruppe
RTL Deutschland
The media landscape is evolving rapidly, pre-
senting people with a rich and diverse range of
choices about where, when and how they access
content. At egta, we have seen how television
has embraced the opportunities of the digital
evolution, while at the same time continuing in
its leading linear role of informing, inspiring and
entertaining audiences across the world.
TV is the first choice for advertisers, offering
great reach, great storytelling opportunities,
sound efficiencies and unrivalled effectiveness.
Holding the lion’s share of media spending in
most European countries, one pillar of televi-
sion’s success is built on the accuracy and ac-
countability of its audience data, which in Europe
is predominantly organised on the model of the
national level Joint Industry Committee (JIC). This
ensures that TV audience data is of a very high
quality and transparency and in turn gives media
buyers and their advertiser clients unparalleled
confidence that their investments will be con-
verted into real contacts and effective marketing
outcomes.
/ / Into a new era: building
multi-screen measurement
on the strengths of television
methodologies
Television audience measurement (TAM) is well es-
tablished and trusted throughout Europe, and its
methodologies are relatively similar from country
to country. It is therefore both logical and desirable
for the strengths of TAM to be transferred to the
measurement of online video, which has devel-
oped within much less transparent or consistent
regimes than television. The online space has to
date been characterised by fragmented
black box
measurement approaches and a landscape of
walled gardens
as some competitors have sought
to dominate online video revenues, and it is only by
adopting sound, independently controlled research
that fair comparisons and a true understanding of
today’s viewing behaviours can be achieved.
Innovation requires investment, and this can be
seen in the ambitious projects currently being
developed and deployed, in many cases led by
the television industry. And the benefits stretch
beyond purely commercial interests: enhanced
measurement is needed to allow broadcasters to
understand their performances across all screens,
and to close the apparent – and currently widen-
ing – gap between
real
and
measured
consump-
tion. Furthermore, this clarity will allow marketers
to better evaluate the relative effectiveness of the
media choices at their disposal, informing their
decisions and strengthening their brands’ connec-
tions to consumers.
The television industry must be the pioneers for
change and improvement in this field, or risk com-
petitor platforms setting the agenda and defining
tomorrow’s
de facto
standards, even if biased, non
transparent and impossible to validate. A level
playing field on which all viewing is measured on
a like-for-like basis, potentially leading to a com-
bined currency, will also shine a spotlight on the
comparative reach and power of television, linear
and non-linear, versus online-only publishers.
With solid and transparent multi-screen data at
our hand, and in the light of TV’s unaltered strong
consumption and impact, we certainly have little