You recently announced that you will be retiring in May so perhaps this is a good time to reflect. What are the most significant changes you've seen in audience measurement during your 30+ years in research?
Certainly Nielsen’s move to the people meter in 1987 was a significant innovation that has lasted 30 years – so far. Later, the creation of Nielsen’s AP meter was an innovation that we take for granted - it ultimately gave Nielsen the ability to measure whatever was on the glass, regardless of source. It was the first form of ACR technology and is enabling part of Nielsen’s TCR measurement today.
The move away from pure, panel-based measurement to hybrid solutions with demographic modeling is finally getting us where we need to be. This is about combining the truth and depth of probability panels with the granularity and connectivity of big data. The work we did with comScore and Arbitron in 2012 to create Project Blueprint is a good example of this.
Finally, I have been quoted as saying, “measurement is now a team sport.” The future of measurement - especially across platforms - now depends on the collaboration and cooperation between vendor, client and even third parties. This is both an opportunity and a challenge.
On a personal level, what accomplishments are you most proud of as you look back on your career?
First and foremost, I am most proud of the team and organization that I have built these last 21 years. When I started in 1996, we were two people. Today we have about 60 people that cover every aspect of research and analytics for ESPN’s business around the world. We grew as an organization because we were able to impact the growth of ESPN as a media business and consumer brand through sound insights and intelligence. At the heart of this is effective communication and my team excels at that. Informing is one thing, but our goal is to inspire.
I am also proud of the influence we have had on the industry in the U.S. and around the world as thought leaders, particularly in the areas of cross-platform measurement and the use of lab-based research. Innovation has always been central to our approach and I am confident that will continue long after me.
More than most networks, ESPN has significant viewership out-of-home. Please tell us a bit about the challenges you faced -- and perhaps continue to face -- with regard to measuring this audience.
Our work in out of home measurement for ESPN began in 1997 with Nielsen. In 2002, we developed our own total TV measurement service called the Total TV Audience Monitor, or T-TAM for short. We learned a lot and made some progress, but ultimately it was not sustainable. The main issue with both Nielsen and T-TAM was that these were special diary-based services and could not easily be used as currency.
For about a year now we have been using Nielsen’s out-of-home solution using the PPM, and the results are much better. Most of 2016 was spent educating our clients on the methodology and the value of the audience. The reaction so far has been very positive. This service is much more of a currency and can easily be used to transact on. As a result, clients are now open to treating this as real audience and we have had some early success with client investment. Nielsen is now introducing their syndicated service in April and that transparency will make the data more useful and improve our ability to monetize this long unmeasured audience.
You worked at Nielsen throughout most of the 1980s. Just to put things in perspective, what were the big issues Nielsen was grappling with at that time?
This was the era of the meter, especially in the local area where I worked. Local metered market expansion was a big deal at the time. I was fortunate to get in on the ground floor of a new area charged with using PCs to process the new overnight data which was downloaded over phone lines. Remember, this was a time when we were competing with Arbitron and so these services were a key competitive difference.
This was also the period when Nielsen was a Dun & Bradstreet company and this gave us access to a wealth of consumer data. So I also got involved in developing a new tool called TV Conquest which integrated geocoded Nielsen TV audience data with consumer data through a geodemographic segmentation system called ClusterPlus. It also included mapping and the ability to model ratings for retail trading areas. Today I refer to that time as the early days of big data. It was a great experience.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing media researchers today?
In my mind it is managing the race to the bottom as a result of technology that enables faster and cheaper measures. Related to this is the bifurcation of big data and traditional audience measurement. One is not a substitute for the other, and instead they need to coexist. I am a big fan of not letting perfect be the enemy of progress, but we have to be careful.
What do see as CRE's most significant contributions to the advancement of media research methodology?
The CRE is a unique sandbox that gives the industry vision and guidance on contemporary research issues. Nothing else like it exists. I recall the Video Consumer Mapping study as a seminal study that significantly improved the industry’s vision into the change that was going on in video and TV consumption – change that we otherwise could not see. It shed light on an urgent need for the industry to accelerate innovation in this area and became the roadmap for work that is going nearly a decade later.
Related to this, the new CRE Guide for Validating New and Modeled Audience Data is providing vision and guidance for new hybrid methodologies for audience measurement that have become necessary in today’s world. In the end, the CRE is filling in some significant knowledge gaps in this rapidly changing business.
In this month's edition of CRE Newsletter we present a "CRE Spotlight" salute to one of the deans of media research, Artie Bulgrin of ESPN. Artie, who announced recently that he will retire in May, was kind enough to take time to answer some questions and reflect on his career and the media research profession. I hope you enjoy the interview and join me in wishing Artie an enjoyable and fulfilling retirement.
