The Association of National Advertisers, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement and the American Association of National Advertisers said they are launching a study looking at the transition to a multi-currency TV market in the U.S.

A number of programmers are working with media buyers to test using data from measurement companies to buy and sell advertising–a role traditionally played by Nielsen.

But with Nielsen recently problems, including undercounting viewing during the pandemic and losing accreditation from the Media Rating Council, the industry has been more open to looking at alternate currencies from companies including iSpot, VideoAmp, Comscore and 605.

“There are good reasons to be positive about recent developments. CIMM’s members, across the industry, are largely optimistic that this transition will create new opportunities, drive increased investment in measurement offerings, stimulate innovation and facilitate the growth and development of advanced advertising across the market,” said Jon Watts, managing director at CIMM.

“However, there are also important uncertainties about how the transition will work in practice, the implications for planning and buying, and the challenges of navigating across and between different measurement solutions, leading at least some industry participants – including smaller networks, major agency groups and advertisers – to voice concerns. Our goal with this study to identify priorities for industry collaboration and cooperation to support the industry during this transition,” Watts added. 

The study will aim to look at perspectives on what is lacking in TV currency measurement, opportunities, challenges and risks presented by a transition to multiple currencies and steps that different TV networks are taking to support their ad sales, advertising clients and partners with measurement offerings.

It will exampling the levels of confidence of key stakeholders about the ability of the industry to make progress in key areas, the potential impact of the transition on advertiser investment and on the wider TV ad market, the approaches different agency groups are taking to support their clients and to upgrade planning and buying tools and platforms and perspectives on standards and accreditation for currency measurement vendors.

“It has been clear for some time that media and advertising measurement must evolve along with the consumer experience and advanced technology. So, this development for television is not unexpected, but nevertheless challenging. Our goal with this study is to help educate and inform the industry on how to transition from uncertainty to innovation in an increasingly complex transaction environment,” said Nathalie Bores, executive VP of measurement for marketers at the ANA.■

iSpot.tv, one of the measurement companies looking to take a bigger role in providing currency for buying and selling commercials, said it appointed Vijoy Gopalakrishnan as chief research officer, a new post.

Gopalakrishnan previously worked at IRI and Nielsen. In his new role, he will manage iSpot’s data science and advanced analytics departments.

He will work with iSpot’s Mike Bardaro to continue to advance the company’s data science practices and methodologies, and with Darby Greenwell to continue to scale its advanced analytics business.

Gopalakrishnan joins iSpot at a time when the media industry is actively looking for alternatives to traditional measurement approaches and Nielsen’s dominance over the ratings business.

iSpot maintains a catalog of commercials and uses data from Vizio’s Inscape unit to determine who’s watching them. iSpot's analytics are used by advertisers and networks to determine the reach and effectiveness of campaigns across platforms.

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“We are at an inflection point where granular second by second TV ad measurement and the ability to evaluate business outcomes and the brand impact in real time is empowering brands and networks to treat TV as a performance channel,” said Gopalakrishnan.

“The integrity of independent measurement that is unencumbered by activation or other business interests means iSpot’s sole focus can be on measuring TV advertising across platforms,'' he added. “That coupled with the deep adoption from a sizable portion of brands on TV and working relationships with virtually every TV network in America puts us in a position to collaborate industry wide on a new set of metrics for transacting on TV.”

Also Read: Vevo Taps iSpot for CTV Audience Measurement

Gopalakrishnan will represent iSpot with measurement organizations and initiatives, including CIMM’s Ad Metadata Standards, Attribution Standards with the Media Ratings Council, and ARF, and will be a lead on iSpot’s long standing relationship with the Video Advertising Bureau.