One of the issues I have with some of the more niche adtech experts out there is their lack of knowledge, or as it sometimes seems interest in the broader media, let alone advertising world. It\u2019s fair enough to make the same criticism the other way around, although in my experience legacy media guys have shown an appetite to absorb as much as they can about new forms and techniques.<\/p>\n
Last week those nice people at the ABC were good enough to invite me to their Interaction 2015 event. This was a mix of platform speeches and panel discussions on the broad topic of online trading. One of those who spoke was Louisa Wong, CCO at Amnet, the Aegis trading desk.<\/p>\n
In the interests of full disclosure I used to work at Aegis; I don\u2019t know and have never as far as I know met Ms Wong. I\u2019m sure she is excellent at what she does; but I think if I were her I would lay off the public speaking for a bit. Although what follows is from memory I think I remember her main points well \u2013 they were certainly memorable.<\/p>\n
Louisa followed two themes (if we forget the rather odd video of Kim Kardashian that popped up for no apparent reason mid-speech. Something to do with trust, I think). First she argued that online fraud is no big deal. The digital industry is she said spreading un-necessary doom and gloom amongst the advertiser community who really shouldn\u2019t worry.<\/p>\n
This was shortly followed by her second main point comparing digital measurement with the old media legacy systems. Or, as she put it: no-one worries about BARB data, so why should a little problem like online fraud worry anyone?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s just unpick this a little. My apologies for using USA data from last May, and going to \u2018The Wall Street Journal\u2019 as a source, but hey, that\u2019s what I had to hand, and even if the numbers will vary the scale is I suspect much the same.<\/p>\n
\u2022 First 62% of all online traffic is seen only by bots.
\n\u2022 Second 54% of paid-for display ads never ran where they were supposed to run.<\/p>\n
Another stat used by the rather more articulate Caspar Schlickum from Xaxis, on the same platform was that when the FT tried to buy some of its own inventory as a test only 18% finished up in the actual FT.<\/p>\n
So Ms Wong\u2019s little problem is in fact quite big. To be fair she did make a good point in suggesting that all-purpose labels aren\u2019t that helpful when it comes to trying to fix a multi-faceted problem.<\/p>\n
But there is a fundamental difference between fraud and accuracy. One is about stealing money. The other is about providing accurate data.<\/p>\n
It used to be commonplace for digital people to draw a comparison between what they described as the ultimate, measurable online world, and the old-hat legacy media measurements that relied on such (to them) old-fashioned and ludicrous concepts as samples. Nowadays, this sort of comparison is less common, in part I suspect as it has proved to be so easy to destroy the argument.<\/p>\n
BARB is probably the most under-the-microscope, most checked, most monitored-for-quality survey out there. Even Ms Wong\u2019s statement that \u2018no-one comes knocking on a BARB respondent\u2019s door to check if they\u2019ve gone to the bathroom when the ads come on\u2019 is not completely true. There have been a fair few observational studies by several researchers and organisations into TV viewing, plus a mass of work on how BARB respondents use the in-home measurement devices. I was even part of a team that interviewed panel members on their experiences (they were about to become ex-members) years ago.<\/p>\n
And anyway BARB is all about providing confidence in the accuracy of the trading currency; it really has nothing to do with fraud.<\/p>\n
Then there is the indisputable fact \u2013 and this should appeal to Ms Wong who was gaily throwing phrases like \u2018advertisers\u2019 objectives\u2019 around \u2013 whatever she may see as weaknesses in its measurement system, TV advertising works, and there\u2019s quite a body of work publicly available through bodies like the IPA to show how it works, and how various aspects of the measurement system can be employed to make it work better. It\u2019s not so easy to find similar work relating to the online world.<\/p>\n
Ms Wong even managed to get in the \u2018half of my advertising is wasted\u2019 quote, and then tried to link that to the not-very-big-deal-at-all issue of online ad fraud. The fact is fraud is fraud at the end of the day and telling advertisers it doesn\u2019t really matter much is not going to win you many friends.<\/p>\n
In any event, Ms Wong\u2019s remarks were another example of the online media world placing itself in a huge silo from within which it is it seems unfortunately well insulated from the rest of the advertising world. It is very disappointing that so many digital experts seem to think that it is entirely reasonable to know so little about anything outside their bubble.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s a pity given what all agree is a need for integrated thinking and behaviour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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