Rapid Response: Managing media quality in a fast-changing media environment

This LinkedIn newsletter provides exclusive insight into OMD's internal Rapid Response series, created by OMD 's Managing Director of Product,? Jean-Paul Edwards . This month’s edition covers innovative and integrated solutions for tracking, managing, and leveraging media quality as long-established shifts in consumption reach maturity.

Declining TV Linear Environment and Managing Media Quality?

UK government media regulator Ofcom recently published its 2023 Media Nations Report with data showing that viewing continues to shift from broadcast to streamed environments. The number of broadcast programs attracting mass audiences is in steep decline. In 2014, over 1200 shows delivered more than 6m viewers, by 2022 this was less than 200. The top-performing scripted show of the year, BBC1’s The Tourist delivered more impact through streaming than LinearTV.? Online video formats across in-stream, out-stream,?and connected TV accounted for almost?as much?spend as linear and BVOD?combined. ?

There is a similar story in the US. Nielsen reports that streaming accounted for 38.7% of all viewing in July 2023. Almost twice the size of broadcasts’ 20% share. YouTube delivers over 9% of all viewing?and almost half of all streaming ad-supported?viewership.?

The shift away from linear viewing, as well as the tightening and enforcement of media regulation, developing platform policies, and awareness of externalities of advertising, is increasing focus on the quality of the impacts purchased and the buying path.?

Media Quality Management?

‘Made for advertising’ sites (MFAs) are designed to game the measurement and accountability system and have grown as they deliver high traffic volumes and viewability scores. MFAs tread a fine line between genuine consumer experiences and invalid traffic and maximize revenue over experience. A recent?ANA study?found that 15% of spend and?21% of impressions were from MFAs. With high traffic and ad loads with short durations?of visits, MFAs generate?significantly more carbon?emissions?than other environments.?

Decision frameworks need to be built around?metrics less susceptible to being gamed and?integrating both incremental business effects and?empathy for the consumer experience.?The?aggregate of these metrics is MediaQuality?-?the delivery against specific?standards and requirements of a campaign. Attention metrics are a part of that solution as they?measure how ads are delivered and received -?MFA?sites rarely do well on attention?metrics.??As well as contextual and supply path considerations.??

Integrated Solutions?

To protect against the inclusion of MFAs and other sources of low-quality content, Omnicom Media Group has utilized inclusion lists on its programmatic buys for the last decade, delivered with thousands of hours of human review. Our inclusion lists undergo an extensive domain?review process to identify the highest-quality sites?for advertisers.

OMG has also developed its YouTube curation tool, Omni Video Intelligence (OVI). This self-serve?YouTube-centric curation platform allows for?detailed analysis and curation of channels and?individual videos for inclusion targeting across?auction and reservation buys. The platform offers a complete monitoring suite for?insights and mid-campaign optimizations.?

Regardless of the shift away from linear TV environments. TV still delivers immediate scale. As?video consumption polarizes, a deeper?understanding of granular viewing is needed. To?identify the shows that reach light views or are yet to?reach viewers most effectively.?

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