Only A Third Of Ad Execs Trust Their Audience Data, Measurements

At a time when the ad industry’s dependence on data analytics and measurement technologies appears to be growing, the vast majority of advertisers and agency executives say they have little faith in the metrics they use to plan and buy media.

Only a third (33%) of ad execs say they consider their audience insights “completely trustworthy,” according to a survey of 197 advertiser and agency decision-makers conducted online by Advertiser Perceptions (AP). The study, “The State of Advertising Measurement Report,” is intended to serve as a benchmark of industry confidence in the data and measurement tools used to make media-buying decisions, which will be updated periodically -- most likely once a year

When AP drilled deeper, asking ad executives how trustworthy they felt their “audience analytics/measurement” currently are, their confidence levels were even lower. Only 29% said they feel these currently are “completely trustworthy.”

Interestingly, only a third (34%) said they felt Nielsen’s “C3” and “C7” audience ratings -- currently deemed a “gold standard” of audience measurement by many in the industry -- are “completely trustworthy.”

According to MediaPost, the AP report does not break out the responses of advertisers versus agency executives, but AP Vice President-Intelligence Justin Fromm says it was “pretty consistent all the way through.”

“What we see really is the fact that as we move toward people-based advertising, there’s no question that the need for accurate measurement grows exponentially,” he said, referring to the “people-based" concept that seeks to associate actual people exposed to advertising and media buys by correlating the “first-party” data that brands and agencies can access about them to the media they buy to reach them.