So I was just watching the below clip from beet.tv, and it raised a lively discussion between me and the offline research colleague who sits next to me. We’re both learning about measurement in each others’ worlds by osmosis, since we share the “R&D pod” with two other teammates. But the below clip really gave us some great points to exchange information on:
First of all, there’s some discussion in this clip about how GRP’s aren’t the best fit for online video measurement, since they measure eyeballs, and do not gauge engagement or involvement with the brand. What would a new metric, beyond GRPs or views, looke like though? What could be added on to gauge effectiveness, prove the engagement, and show that the advertiser has really connected to their audience?
I had a couple ideas on adding social connectivity to video. For example, in YouTube pre-rolls, it may not be enough to just rely on YouTube Trueview as a metric for engaged users. It would be awesome if Google added a +1 button to the pre-roll ads on YouTube, and gave an advertiser the opportunity to tie it to a +1 of the brand everywhere else. It would also be great if the +1 would positively affect the YouTube search for that video, and boost the commercial in YouTube search results, so it would gain more views as an independent YouTube posted video.
Similarly, it would be really helpful to add Gigya social sign in type functionality to online video, allowing for “Likes”, or other soft indicators of allegiance to a video. Assuming everyone’s logged in on some social network at all times, whether Facebook or Google+, why not take advantage of those logins to allow users to indicate interest in content?
My offline colleague and I agree that GRPs are the best broad, branded metric to measure any video content by, because it still gets in front of eyeballs. Even if the user isn’t paying attention (and they are more likely to pull up another window in front of an online ad), they still see or hear the brand name. But there does need to be a new school of measurement to gauge video effectively…especially since otherwise, all video media placements might be viewed as equal in quality. If video is only effective when it meets the “three C’s” (content, context and connectivity), what additional engagement metrics should be layered on to judge whether those three factors have been adequately met, and the video is indeed conveyings its message to an engaged consumer?
