Sydney, 8th August, 2018 – IAB Australia has continued its’ drive for higher standards for digital video audience measurement and for this reason has chosen not to endorse secondary crediting for video within Nielsen’s Digital Content Ratings (DCR) product. The decision comes as Nielsen informed the Australian market that there has been a delay in delivering viewing time qualifiers for DCR until February 2019.
IAB Australia has stipulated that for someone to be included in video audience reach for a website or app, they must have been qualified as having a minimum viewing time of two seconds in both on and off platform activity. This is in line with the recommendations published by the Media Ratings Council (MRC) Digital Audience-Based Measurement Standards in December 2017.
Some publishers had started to track their Facebook video activity on the understanding that qualifiers would be introduced in 2018 however other publishers will be delaying this tracking until the qualifiers are in place.
Off-platform activity is an important part of many publishers’ audience strategies and IAB Australia will support the inclusion of the off platform audience data once the viewing qualifiers have been introduced. Until the time qualifier is properly introduced, IAB Australia will only endorse video audience data which excludes Facebook secondary crediting for off-platform video content.
IAB Australia remains supportive of DCR including secondary crediting for text and static image. This statement only relates to how DCR is treating video.
According to IAB CEO Gai Le Roy, although many analytics tools and other audience measurement tools count people from video start, IAB Australia believes this is not robust enough to calculate the audience-reach data that is needed for media buyers and advertisers to make accurate decisions.
“Audiences continue to increase their consumption of digital video and advertisers rightly continue to reinvest in this highly effective advertising option, so it is our responsibility to provide the market with the most accurate data possible.
“The IAB continues to support Digital Content Ratings’ independent 3rd party measurement for digital audience measurement as it offers world’s best practice for online audience measurement and is more inclusive of both long and short form video formats. However there will be times when we will challenge and choose not to endorse particular metrics within the system. This is one of those times,” said Le Roy.
A number of Australian publishers have supported the IAB Australia’s decision.
Seven West Media Chief Digital Officer Clive Dickens said “SWM fully supports the DCR metric as the official currency for owned and operated and secondary credited digital audiences and digital content. It is critically important that we continue to strive to further improve digital measurement to provide better clarity for our digital clients and stakeholders. Part of this investment must include an industry alignment and MRC accredited definition of the qualifying threshold of actual reach by video, the solution provided by Nielsen does not currently meet those requirements.’
News DNA managing director Julian Delany said: “News Corp Australia has chosen not to implement Facebook video secondary crediting and will not do so until a video qualifier is in place. We believe that as an industry we need to be providing advertisers and agencies with the most accurate audience figures that we can and look forward to reliable secondary video measurement as soon as possible.”
Nine Entertainment Director of Product and Audience Roxanne Hoad said “We believe the release of the metric without the qualifier impacts the credibility of our measurement currency and we look forward to working with Nielsen to align on these measurement standards. Until that time we cannot endorse this new metric”.
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About the Interactive Advertising Bureau
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Limited www.iabaustralia.com.au is the peak trade association for online advertising in Australia and was incorporated in July 2010. As one of over 43 IAB offices globally and with a rapidly growing membership, the role of the IAB is to work with its members and the broader advertising and marketing industry to assist marketers to identify how best to employ digital advertising as part of their marketing strategy, to better target and engage their customers and build their brands.
IAB Australia leverages the skills, experience and commitment of its members to advocate the benefits of online advertising by acting as an authoritative and objective source for all online advertising issues whilst promoting industry-wide best practice.
For further information about IAB Australia please contact:
Gai Le Roy
Interim CEO – IAB Australia
T: 0408 431 455
Pru Quinlan
Einsteinz Communications
T: (02) 8905 0995
