Origin, ISBA’s initiative to bring cross-media measurement initiative to UK advertising, has announced the completion of its proof of concept.
The Origin proof of concept is a real-life test of the core approach for estimating deduplicated coverage and frequency across media, called the Virtual ID model.
During 2021, Origin worked with Ipsos and its single source panel, as well as RSMB, to evaluate a two-stage test involving panel-based TV data, and the ability of the model to be applied to cross-media campaigns across TV and digital.
“Performance in both tests exceeded our expectations,” ISBA said in a statement today.
Joe Lewis, Origin research director, said: “The independent and trusted work conducted by RSMB is yet another validation of the approach we are taking, and a stamp of reassurance to the industry.
“The proof of concept has successfully tested and validated the application not only to TV data but also in explaining cross-media campaigns across TV and digital, successfully preserving correlations across both. There can be no denying now that, as a concept, it works, it is tested, and validated by independent third parties.”
Origin is ISBA’s advertiser-backed programme, designed to create a blueprint for cross-media measurement. Origin is designed to address the needs of advertisers, who need to understand and plan campaigns across digital and broadcast platforms. They point out the lack of either a standardised approach to video and display measurement or a common measurement approach across media, particularly across digital platforms and between digital platforms and broadcaster TV.
All the major digital platforms, including Facebook, Google and Amazon, are part of Origin, as are more than 25 UK advertisers including Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Mars and BT, as well as the major advertiser holding groups Denstu, IPG, WPP, Omnicom and Publicis Groupe.
Bobi Carley, ISBA’s head of media, added: “For marketers, the holy grail of true cross-media measurement is not a nice-to-have – it’s a must-have. This latest validation of Origin is another step towards making cross media measurement a reality.”
However, the TV companies have thus far been reluctant to join brands as full funding members for the first two phases of Origin, which means providing the money for research and development.
Meanwhile BARB’s CEO Justin Sampson wrote in Mediatel News in November that the TV audience measurement company was not yet in a position to validate Origin because it had so far failed to show how advertisers could credibly compare ad views on YouTube and Facebook with broadcast TV spots.
Sampson wrote: “We aren’t involved in the assessment of the [Origin] methodology, although we will take a view on whether our data can be integrated into the system.
“A failure to insist on consistent inputs in cross-media planning systems undermines a principle that’s important to both the WFA and BARB — namely the need for consistent audience building blocks that allow comparable evaluation of media.”
