Unlock premium value with a new measurement mindset

Opinion: Partner content

While we need to integrate how we measure and plan activity across media, we must be careful not to apply overly broad solutions, writes Ozone’s chief revenue officer.

I wish I had first coined the phrase “not all impressions are created equal”, as it would form the perfect opener for this piece. Yet, despite hearing this countless times from our smartest pundits, why am I still taken aback by the amount of ad investment making its way into the unregulated spaces of the open web?

It’s not like the industry doesn’t believe that premium, editorially-led websites deliver better brand results — this has been well documented through the likes of GroupM and Newsworks’ Value of Quality research or the IAB’s Rules of Attention study. It’s because, collectively, we have failed to measure the full impact of the premium web.

The word premium implies something to be scarce and in-demand. For publishers like ours this ‘something’ equates to the deep engagement they have with their readers. For advertisers it would be the attention their ads receive, the subsequent impact on their brand health, and ultimately these readers spending their cash with them. Digital ad impressions are the opposite – they are in abundance – the challenge for marketers is to find those that deliver the greatest return.

Building on the basics

While they might not be perfect, a number of core metrics have created a well-defined baseline for the digital measurement. Whether that’s click-through rates or viewability — driven by inventory, impression, demographics or context — these have served us pretty well. However, as the industry matured, it became increasingly apparent we need to add further depth to the measurement toolkit to drive real brand success.

We’ve seen a huge focus on attention metrics recently, a bit of a no-brainer for anyone — and that’s pretty much everyone — working in advertising who believes that the more attention an ad gets, the more effective it’s likely to be. These new qualitative measures — just like brand metrics for awareness, consideration, preference or purchase intent — provide a really useful layer of additional insight beyond those foundational metrics.

Yet the lack of an industry standard for attention or brand lift, is an oft-repeated challenge when it comes to new measurements. Too many different definitions, techniques and viewpoints — not forgetting those out to make a quick buck on a shiny new thing — can create unhelpful cynicism and prompt a retreat back to basics. 

This is when a third layer of measurement really comes into its own — when success is defined by ad effects on a brand’s business outcomes; real-world measures that by definition are distinct for each advertiser. Whether it’s customer acquisition, sales conversions or ROI, a more holistic measurement approach is key to long-term success. I’m certain our capacity to predict these outcomes, and model the inputs required to deliver them, will be supercharged in the evolving AI, machine-learning world.

Integration not isolation

When Ozone thinks about measurement and the premium web, we think about it in the context of channels, and the need to differentiate its role in the advertising mix versus the rest of the web.

Historically, and due to a lack of differentiation, performance marketing specialists pitted the premium web against the low-cost, long-tail of the web, as well as social and search channels. This meant the premium web lost out as performance mechanics failed to place any value against the powerful work it does in driving really high levels of attention, consideration and preference.

We see the strength of brand-led results daily at Ozone and it’s been encouraging to see many clients becoming more attuned to the impact that premium sites have on their customer journey. More sophisticated attribution modelling will be a key driver in reaffirming the power of the premium web.

Not only do we need these measures to integrate into brand journeys, we need them to interoperate with buyer technologies, especially as Mixed Media Modelling will be at the centre of the planning sphere moving forward.

Cross media capability also raises questions based on consumers’ attention — who should claim the user’s attention when reading a premium publisher’s content through a social channel or search engine? The publisher or the tech provider? While I might have an opinion (as you may guess!), it’s simply another question to be resolved for measuring the impact of the premium web. 

A measured conclusion

To create greater value across all media channels, more investment in measurement will be critical. While we need to integrate how we measure and plan activity across media, we must be careful not to apply overly broad solutions that ignore the positive impact of different channels.

Ultimately, better measurement will expose the channels that deliver best for brands, and we fully expect the premium web to be at the top of that list.

Craig Tuck is chief revenue officer at Ozone