The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the TVB said they launched a study that will assess local TV measurement in the U.S. and develop an action plan to make improvements.

The group has hired Sequent Partners to work on the project.

The effort to study local ratings comes as the big media companies are moving to set up a Joint Industry Committee to develop standards for national audience measurement.

“The growth of new platforms has increased the supply of data in the market, opening up new opportunities for measurement, advanced audience buying and attribution,” said Jon Watts, managing director at CIMM.

“However, there is increasing industry sentiment that these opportunities are unevenly distributed and often unavailable at scale in every local market – and that there is limited coordination on requirements and priorities amongst different players,” Watts said. “Based on discussions with CIMM’s members, we’ve seen considerable interest and enthusiasm in undertaking an initiative such as this to develop a coordinated response to current challenges and an action plan for local TV measurement in the US. As a non-partisan, pan-industry Coalition, CIMM is uniquely well positioned to undertake this initiative, working closely and collaboratively with the TVB and the 4A's. We're confident that a collaborative effort like this one can help the industry to make real progress.”

“Our members continue to seek an accurate way to measure and maximize the investments they make on behalf of their advertiser clients. We are excited to partner with CIMM and the TVB in this study to explore local measurement challenges and develop an action plan that will work for all parties involved in a local TV transaction,” added Ashwini Karandikar, executive VP, media, technology & data at the 4As.

Local stations have long complained that local measurement has been based on very small sample sizes and Nielsen’s local ratings system is not currently accredited by the Media Rating Council. Comscore has been adding customers for its local ratings, which are largely based on cable set-top data.

“Local should move away from buying on age/gender demographics and move towards using audience demographic data,” said Patti Cohen senior VP, research at CBS. "Local can provide clients targeted audience buying. Local needs to move towards Cross Platform and we know that local provides a strong reach and our streaming platforms have strong engagement with viewers. All of this will require a step change in measurement – and we’re hopeful that this new initiative can help to determine how best to move forward from here.”

“I strongly endorse this initiative as it will serve as a critical first step towards advancing local measurement to meet the current, as well as, future needs of buyers and sellers,” said Betsy Rella, VP of research & data at NY Interconnect. “I encourage industry leaders to be active participants in shaping the requirements, methodologies, systems, and processes needed for accurate, stable, and reliable measurement.”

“In an increasingly complex media landscape, standardization is crucial, and this initiative is leading the way in establishing consistent, reliable measurement practices that will benefit the entire industry,” said Keith Kazerman, president of Gamut.  ■

Yonah Levenson was named VP and group director of information services for Ad-ID, a joint venture of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers.

Ad-ID is a 12-character code for identifying advertising assets across media platforms.

Levenson, previously manager of metadata strategy and taxonomy governance at WarnerMedia, will lead a team of data specialists to broaden Ad-ID's metadata and taxonomy to meet industry demand for information about advertising assets.

"Yonah's vast industry experience and data asset acumen signals Ad-ID's heightened commitment to data and information as we continue to evolve capabilities reflecting the expanding needs of the industry," said Marla Kaplowitz, CEO of the 4As.

Before WarnerMedia, Levenson was with HBO. Earlier she held management and analyst roles at Pearson Education, Data Conversion Laboratory, and HarperCollins Publishers.

"Ad-ID creates more value across the advertising industry by providing and applying enriched taxonomies across all assets and platforms," Levenson said. "I am honored to have the opportunity to help shape the future of this important service, and I look forward to leading a team of exceptional talent as we develop the next generation of metadata tools for U.S. advertisers."

WASHINGTON — Some major ad trade groups are trying to get out in front of D.C‘s current wave of support for regulating data used for targeted advertising, including advocating for what they say are “significant restrictions on data use for advertising.”

One of the goals is to pre-empt state efforts to regulate data use by advertisers.

The American Association of Advertising Agencies (the 4A's), Association of National Advertisers, Interactive Advertising Bureau, and Network Advertising Initiative have launched the Privacy for America Coalition, with the avowed aim of working with Washington to "modernize" data privacy protections and enact "groundbreaking comprehensive federal consumer data privacy and security legislation."

RELATED: DelBene Introduces Privacy Bill

There is bipartisan support from virtually all quarters for some type of federal privacy legislation, so advertisers are looking to put a stake in the ground for their "type" of such protections.

A key to gaining support from some privacy advocates and Democrats will be defining that data and determining how restrictive the restrictions will be. Most everyone agrees sensitive personal data, social security numbers, health and financial records, etcetera, should be restricted. But whether that extends to other types of less sensitive info, and how much control consumers have, are key points of contention in the ongoing privacy debate.

They say their goal is to make “personal data‘ less vulnerable to breaches and misuse.

The coalition outlined what it says should be ”clear, enforceable and nationwide“ consumer privacy protections.

RELATED: Dems Call for Privacy Bill of Rights

Advertisers are looking to preempt a ”patchwork“ of state efforts at privacy regulation, so nationwide is important. In fact, the coalition said it had already commissioned a study that found that ”63% of registered voters believed letting the federal government pass a national data privacy law would be the most effective approach to protect consumer data, compared to only 17% of registered voters who believed letting individual states pass their own data privacy laws would be most effective.”

The key elements of the proposal are:

• “Prohibiting a variety of specific data practices, including using a person’s data to deny them a job, credit or healthcare, unless specifically permitted under existing federal or state laws;

• “Using personal characteristics like race or color to discriminate against a person in setting prices or determining eligibility for products or services; or sharing consumer data with third parties without enforceable contracts to ensure their lawful use of the data;

• “Creating a new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Data Protection Bureau, to enhance the FTC’s longstanding expertise in overseeing privacy matters; granting strengthened rulemaking authority to the FTC; and authorizing strict penalties for companies that engage in prohibited privacy practices – to increase substantially privacy oversight and enforcement;

• “Imposing significant restrictions on data use for advertising — including banning certain types of data from being collected and used for advertising, limiting the purposes for which advertising data may be used, and allowing consumers to identify their preferences regarding what advertising they do or do not wish to receive; and

• “Requiring strong data security protections to guard against data breaches.”

RELATED: IAB Offers Privacy First Principles

Among other key issues in the success of the ad-backed plan is how consumers "identify their preference," by opting out or opting in, or perhaps some combination of the two depending on the type of information.

Leading the coalition will be Stuart Ingis, co-chair of Venable LLP’s eCommerce, Privacy, and Cybersecurity Group, and Jessica Rich, former director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

“Consumers should be confident that rules are in place to protect their privacy when they enjoy benefits like loyalty programs and savings, the convenience of a personalized experience, or ready access to the wide variety of freely accessible content,” said Marla Kaplowitz, CEO of the 4As, in a statement. ”Harmful data practices should not be subject to choice — they should be prohibited. That’s exactly what this new framework does.“