IPA paper asserts value of joint-industry standards when assessing effectiveness

This is one of the key assertions made in a new IPA whitepaper published today (Tuesday, 21 April) and co-authored by Work Research Partner, Tony Regan and Barb Chief Executive Justin Sampson.

Building on the 2023 Signals in the Noise paper which made the case for the role of joint-industry audience measurement in era of data abundance, Signals in the Noise 2: Doing the right things argues that while the advertising industry has never had a better scientific understanding of how advertising works, the data environment which it exists in, is actively working against that science. This, according to the paper, has resulted in an industry that is less well-equipped to make the comparable, objective measurements that would allow those scientific principles to be applied with confidence.

The gap between measurement and effectiveness

In addition to the issue of the industry’s dependence on proprietary data from ‘walled-garden platforms’, further contributing factors to this include short-termism and the abundance of performance data that drives advertisers towards the platforms that are the most measurable and attributable, but not necessarily the most effective.

The case for a joint industry solution

Signals in the Noise 2: Doing the right things outlines that what effectiveness experts need is consistent audience data, which allows comparable evaluation across different media. This data can then act as the foundations of marketing-mix modelling and allow for informed media investment decisions.

This solution, according to Regan and Sampson, is provided via UK’s well-established model of independent, joint-industry governance. However, the data science community needs these joint-industry sources to be more accessible and more readily integrated into the modelling and analytics which sit at the heart of effectiveness measurement.

To address these issues, the paper asserts specific actions for the various different stakeholders:

• For the joint-industry bodies to invest in making their data work harder for the next generation of analysts and modellers who need it.
• For the data-science community to bring the same rigour to assessing the quality of their inputs that they apply to building your models.
• For the online platforms to engage seriously with joint-industry principles rather than treating transparency and comparability as inconvenient constraints.
• To advertisers and agencies to remember that the freedom to invest with confidence - rather than with faith, or with resignation - depends on the quality of the evidence on which their decisions are based.

Commenting on the report:

Tony Regan, Managing Partner, Work Research and co-author of Signals in the Noise:

"The principles of joint-industry governance for which the UK is recognised around the world has always been based on independent audience measurement. As well as allowing media markets to operate transparently and fairly, joint-industry data sources have provided advertisers and media agencies with informed choice on how to optimise their investment in media advertising. We have never had a better scientific understanding of how advertising works, yet the data environment makes the measurable the enemy of the meaningful."

Dan Flynn, Joint Research Director, IPA:

"Signals in the Noise is a response to the conundrum that the profusion of data about media audiences has not led to an equivalent increase in knowledge. With ongoing pressure on marketing accountability, the industry’s ambition to account rigorously for the investment in media advertising is being clouded by the noise that comes from a variety of proprietary definitions of audience exposure."

Additional contributors to the report include EssenceMediacom’s Chief Strategy Officer, Rich Kirk; Bicycle’s Media Science and Strategy Director, Aidan Mark; independent econometrician, Alex Vass; and Havas Media Group’s Global EVP and Head of Planning, Jon Waite.