MRC Mobile Measurement Guidelines Start Coming In June

The Media Rating Council (MRC), a self-regulatory industry body that oversees standards for media measurement, plans to issue guidelines on mobile viewability measurement by mid-June. The MRC aims to improve the quality of media measurement and provide greater utility for measurement overall.

According to MediaPost, the forthcoming standards will aim to create a working measurement for viewability in mobile environments. They will focus on such issues as pages that take longer to load onto a screen in mobile environments, how consumers’ exposure to advertising is different when they experience it in-feed, and how consumers interact with the mobile scroll. All of these factors and more affect viewability standards, according to David Gunzerath, SVP and associate director, MRC.

David Gunzerath

The MRC has been working on viewability issues for a while and developed standards on viewability guidelines in 2014. Its collaboration with the Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Interactive Advertising Bureau on the “Making Measurement Make Sense” (3MS) initiative attempted to create a measurement environment that’s more conducive to brand advertising.

The MRC also aims to create guidelines for measuring digital-audience-based currency. “Digital media isn’t there yet,” Gunzerath said. “We’re trying to create principles for digital media. TV measurement is already segmented by audience. Digital is still being monetized largely on the basis of gross impressions--at least for brand advertisers--that aren’t segmented on any consistent basis.” The MRC anticipates issuing a call for public comment on the digital piece later this year.

In addition, in 2017, the MRC expects to have cross-platform measurement guidelines in place. That will involve determining GRPs based on reach and frequency within and across platforms, but won’t be limited to traditional age and gender GRPs. “Our goal is to create a common platform for cross-platform measurement,” Gunzerath said.