Letter from the Council
CRE members were active in various aspects of Nielsen's Consumer 360 conference. And we have a winning entry among research projects suggested by a number of visitors to our "booth" there. Please see our report on that in this newsletter.
Nielsen clients who did not get a chance to catch up with us at Consumer 360 will have future opportunities.
Two of those opportunities – both in New York -- will be an August 6 event at which we'll discuss findings to-date from our video-viewing ethnographies, and a September 9 event on Big Data. More on those in this edition of the newsletter.
Also in this edition are updates on the progress of our whitepaper on cross-platform measurement, and our further study into marketing mix modeling.
We hope you find this edition informative and will get in touch with us (info@researchexcellence.com) if you have any questions.
Ceril Shagrin
Executive Vice President, Audience Measurement Innovation and Analytics
Univision Communications Inc.
Chair, Council for Research Excellence
The CRE will host an August 6, 2014 event in New York City to discuss findings from its two ethnographies conducted with research associate GfK.
Included will be learnings from the completed acceleration ethnography, to understand consumers' likely future video-device purchases, and from the ongoing longitudinal ethnography.
Attendees will gain deeper insight into patterns, motivations and influences in individual, group and family viewing, and device selection and usage, among other areas.
Nielsen clients interested in attending should contact info@researchexcellence.com if they have not yet received the recently issued invitation.
The CRE will host a September 9, 2014 event for Nielsen clients at which it will roll out its Big Data Primer and host speakers for a discussion of the latest views on the expanding relationship of data science and audience research.
Stacey Schulman, Executive Vice President, Strategy, Analytics and Research, Katz Media Group, who chairs the CRE's Big Data Committee, is issuing a call for any and all Big Data "case studies" that Nielsen clients would like to share for consideration.
"We're looking for projects from all corners of the media industry – marketers, agencies and media companies," Schulman said. "We'd like submissions to be able to highlight methodology, analytic techniques, preparation and knowledge acquisition.
"We are not so much interested in hearing about how successful the results were as much as understanding the process to completion and how results were used," she noted. "These are elements of case study success and can lend to a more informative September event."
Colleagues can contact Stacey via info@researchexcellence.com.
Nielsen clients should look for an email in early August with details on the September 9 event.
The CRE's forthcoming whitepaper on cross platform metrics, overseen by the Media Consumption & Engagement (MC&E;) Committee, continues on track as it progresses toward a fourth quarter public release.
Underway now is the series of field interviews with 50 leading, media, advertising and research executives and experts, conducted by Horowitz Associates and Betsy Frank Insights.
An earlier step -- a review of the literature about current industry thinking on the issues surrounding the topic – has been completed.
"The whitepaper and related learnings will help us lay out our committee's research agenda for the following 18 months," noted Joe Abruzzo, Executive Vice President, Chief Exploration Officer, Havas Media, who chairs the MC&E; Committee.
An update will be provided in a subsequent newsletter.
The CRE's ROI Committee, chaired by David Poltrack, has launched its follow-up study into marketing mix modeling. The resulting whitepaper is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter.
The research will be conducted by Sequent Partners and is intended to accomplish three goals: 1) establish a contemporary perspective on the long-term effects of advertising, 2) establish best practices for television data inputs to marketing mix models and 3) work with Nielsen to more fully implement the recommended solution for model-ready radio data. The researchers will review the literature and conduct interviews with leading modelers, advertisers and research experts.
Visitors to the CRE booth at Nielsen's recent Consumer 360 event in San Antonio were invited to complete a form soliciting research-project suggestions. The provider of the suggestion selected for CRE follow-up will receive a new iPad 3, as a token of the CRE members' gratitude.
The CRE benefited from ideas covering topics including implications for traditional TV measurement of new platforms such as OTT, the impact of wearables on media behavior, the impact of privacy warnings on digital-media consumption, and increasing Hispanic samples, among others.
Congratulations (and the iPad 3) go to Douglas Darfield, Managing Director Programming and Research at Hemisphere Media Group, Inc., for his suggestion: developing criteria to make judgments between sample and census data.
At the CRE's quarterly meeting in March, the Council welcomed as a member John McMorrow, Senior Vice President, Programming & Research, at Cox Television's HRP subsidiary.
Experts on advertising research and audience measurement joined for a panel discussion, "The Measurement Mandate – Progress Report," on June 10 at the Advertising Research Foundation's (ARF) Audience Measurement 9.0 conference in New York.
The panel was moderated by Joan Lewis, Global Consumer & Market Knowledge Officer, Procter & Gamble.
The panelists, representing organizations engaged in measurement issues, were: Jane Clarke, Managing Director of the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM); Bill Duggan, Group Executive Vice President, Committees, Association of National Advertisers; George Ivie, Executive Director of the Media Rating Council; Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Industry Services, Interactive Advertising Bureau; Jasper Snyder, Executive Vice President, Research and Innovation: Cross-Platform, The ARF; and Richard Zackon, CRE Facilitator
Lewis posed these questions to panelists:
Q: What's your organization doing?
Q: What's the biggest barrier?
As for the latest activity from the CRE, Zackon noted the progress on the whitepaper on cross-platform measurement, and on the ethnographies, and the ROI Committee's newly launched follow-up study into marketing mix modeling. (For more on these projects, please see preceding articles in this edition.)
Regarding the "biggest barrier" facing measurement, Zackon offered, "It's been said that a big barrier is legacy systems. I think it's legacy thinking." Quoting Einstein, he added, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
Zackon also urged ongoing progress in collaboration among the multiple organizations engaged in measurement. "We speak a lot about collaboration, but most of what I see is debate, not dialogue."
Further information on this and other panels can be found at the ARF's event microsite.
The CRE's Education Committee successfully hosted its first-ever Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP) seminar on June 16, 2014 at the Manhattan office of MAIP sponsor the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As).
The CRE presentation, on "Using Research to Tell A Story," included opening remarks by CRE Education Committee Chair Jed Meyer, followed by a media & consumer insight case study presented by Meyer's Annalect colleagues Priscilla Aydin, Crystal Clark-Archer and Kebrina Robinson, all Education Committee volunteers; and it closed with a discussion panel on careers in research including three other Annalect executives: Tools & Insights Group Director, Kathy Grey; Investment Research Director, Jon Cogan; and Primary Research Director, Dr. Pamela Marsh. Chrystie Kelly and Laura Zampa from Universal McCann, also Education Committee volunteers, attended as well.
Nearly 100 MAIP interns joined for the two-hour event. "I could feel their enthusiasm based on the abundance of questions and their thoughtful remarks about the industry, the importance of research and their own career paths," Meyer observed.
"Based on feedback from networking after the event, the CRE presentation was well received and our goal to 'bring research to life' was certainly achieved," he added.
At the CRE's quarterly meeting in March, the Council welcomed as a member John McMorrow, Senior Vice President, Programming & Research, at Cox Television's HRP subsidiary.
The CRE is pleased to announce that the following – including the CRE's first-ever colleagues representing the Nielsen Audio community -- have been accepted as members:
- Joseph Abbruzo, Executive Vice President, Chief Exploration Officer, Havas Media
- Kathleen Bohan, Senior Vice President, Local Research, Univision
- Buzz Knight, Vice President, Program Development, Greater Media
- Tony Marinaro, Corporate Director of Research, LIN Media
- Andy Rainey, Senior Vice President, Research, Radio Advertising Bureau
- Stacey Schulman, Executive Vice President, Strategy, Analytics and Research, Katz Media Group
- Howard Shimmel, Senior Vice President, Advertising Sales and Research, Turner Broadcasting
- Susie Thomas, Senior Vice President, Partner, Research, Universal McCann
Stacey, Howard and Susie were CRE members when with previous employers.
At the CRE's quarterly meeting in March, the Council welcomed as a member John McMorrow, Senior Vice President, Programming & Research, at Cox Television's HRP subsidiary.
Longtime CRE member Jack Wakshlag stepped down at the end of March from his position as Chief Research Officer at Turner Broadcasting. During his 12-year term in that role, he has been credited with innovations such as establishing Turner as the first TV organization to begin coding its programming to measure the impact of over-the-top video consumption on commercial viewing; digital ad load testing that persuaded Turner to place content online with full ad loads; CNN All Screen; Advanced Media Targeting; a highly regarded promo testing data base; and successful program/movie estimating processes, among other achievements. We know readers join us in congratulating Jack on this recently concluded phase of his distinguished career and in wishing him the best on his next endeavors.
The CRE has begun a committee for the study of the effects of commercial pod length. The committee, chaired by Hadassa Gerber, Director of Research for the Syndicated Network Television Association (SNTA), expects to begin its inaugural research effort in 2014.
We're pleased to welcome back Judy Vogel, Vice President of Research at Gannett Company, Inc.; Michael Nathanson, Senior Research Analyst at MoffettNathanson, LLC; and Bryon Schafer, Senior Vice President of Research at Warner Bros. Television. All three were prior CRE members while with other companies, and were re-admitted at the CRE's December quarterly meeting.
The Steering Committee of the CRE voted to approve the establishment of a $30,000 scholarship in the name of Susan Whiting, at her alma mater Denison University. Susan, who will be retiring from her position as vice chair at Nielsen at year-end, was instrumental in the creation of the CRE in 2005.
The CRE welcomes its newest members:
We Want to Hear From You
The CRE seeks to expand the discussion to any and all topics of interest to you. We invite you to submit your suggestions, requests, questions and comments to info@researchexcellence.com
Similarly, please e-mail us if you'd like to get involved with a CRE research committee.
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About the Council for Research Excellence
The Council for Research Excellence (CRE) is an independent research group created (in 2005) and funded by Nielsen. The CRE is dedicated to advancing the knowledge and practice of audience measurement methodology and comprises senior-level industry researchers representing advertisers, agencies, broadcast networks, cable, syndicators, local stations, and industry associations.
CRE members represent advertising agencies, media-buying firms, media companies, advertisers, digital publishers, social media companies and industry organizations including ABC, AMC Networks, Assembly, CBS, Comcast, Cox, Discovery, ESPN, Gannett Co., Greater Media, GroupM, Havas, Horizon Media, Katz Media Group, Kimberly-Clark, LIN Media, Magna Global, the Media Rating Council, MoffettNathanson LLC, the National Association of Broadcasters, NBC Universal, Nielsen, Omnicom, Radio Advertising Bureau, Raycom Media, Scripps Networks Interactive, Starcom MediaVest, Tribune Co., Turner Broadcasting, 21st Century Fox, Twitter, Universal McCann, Univision, Viacom and Warner Bros. Television.
For more information about the Council for Research Excellence, please visit: http://www.researchexcellence.com/