Category Archives: measurement

Welcome Mr. Viewthrough…

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The time has come for Viewthrough.org to be folded into Tip of the Spear blog.

After many years after seeing the glaring problem with ad measurement we now have bigger fish to fry with rampant ad fraud. While clicks are loaded with fraud as a means to keep up appearances viewthroughs are very difficult to fake unless forms are being filled out and logins faked…not impossible but that veers into lead gen fraud.

That said, viewthrough is still an important measure for discerning digital marketers.

The Encima Group Donates Tag Management Referrals, Maintains Neutrality

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The latest from Encima but a long-time in the making….hopefully more digital analysts and marketers will consider Piwik as an open source alternative to sharing their precious customer data with G. And of course, the DAA is doing some great things for the industry and we want to be a part of that. Special thanks to David Clunes for his vision and support on this initiative.

Encima Group LogoNewark, DE – August 18, 2014 – Analytics consultancy The Encima Group, is pleased to announce the donation of several thousand dollars in referral fees earned through the recent recommendation and subsequent implementation of Signal’s technology platform. Signal’s Tag Management system (formerly BrightTag) was chosen by two of Encima’s major pharmaceutical clients as the best-in-class tag management solution. For one Encima client, their prior tag management system took too much time to use and was expensive. It was replaced with Signal and the client is already seeing ongoing tag maintenance now taking less than 10% of the time that it did before. For another client, Signal was deployed together with an enterprise site analytics solution across several high-profile Web sites making ongoing tag maintenance a snap.

David Clunes, CEO and Founder of The Encima Group explains, “With technology vendors often jockeying on new capabilities, we prefer let them do what they do best without getting caught up. We purposefully do not recommend the technology platforms that make us the most money, instead we recommend what is best for our client’s long-term analytics success. Donations like this help us continue to maintain our neutrality – all while doing some good for the industry.”

The Encima Group, known best for its independent analytics and digital operations services often finds itself recommending platforms for clients. Sometimes viewed as another value-added reseller, The Encima Group sees itself as an extension of their clients’ organizations and vigorously maintains its “Switzerland” status. That sensibility extends from the firm’s analytics practice which uniquely eschews agency media buying and creative services to focus on providing clients with both objective performance reporting and unbiased campaign optimization recommendation.

Clunes continues, “When it comes to analytics, more objectivity is always a good thing. We feel that this is a great way of paying it forward and that hopefully other firms get the idea.” By sharing the referral fees that it earned, Encima is simultaneously investing in two worthy causes known to analytics professionals worldwide: The Digital Analytics Association, a global organization for digital analytics professionals and Piwik, the globally popular open source Web analytics platform.

“The Digital Analytics Association is thrilled by the Encima Group’s donation,” said DAA Board Chair, Jim Sterne. “The funds will be added to our general fund to benefit all members of the DAA. We hope that others in the space will follow Encima’s leadership in this area.” For Piwik, the funds will be used to facilitate continued development of this open-source platform. Available as an alternative to sharing with 3rd parties, Piwik allows digital marketers to control their Web site behavioral data. Maciej Zawadziński, of the Piwik Core Development Team says, “This is great and will help us to further develop an alternative free Web analytics platform.”

About The Encima Group

The Encima Group is an independent analytics consultancy that was recently recognized for its successful growth in the Inc. 5000 (ranking in top 25%). The Encima Group’s mission really is about actionable analytics and flawless execution. Offering an integrated suite of services around multi-channel measurement, tag management, dashboards, technology strategy consulting and marketing operational support, The Encima Group pioneered the notion of Data Stewardship. The Encima Group is based in Newark, DE with offices in Princeton, NJ and Chicago, IL. Its client roster includes leading pharmaceutical companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Otsuka, AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk.

For more information about The Encima Group, visit www.encimagroup.com. For more information about Signal visit www.signal.co, for Piwki visit www.piwik.org and for the Digital Analytics Association visit www.digitalanalyticsassociation.com.

Media Contact(s)

Jason Mo, Director of Business Development (jmo AT encimagroup DOT com); phone (919) 308-5309; Domenico Tassone, VP Digital Capabilities (dtassone AT encimagroup DOT com); Phone.

 

IAB Recognizes Viewthrough

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Interactive Advertising Bureau -- Dedicated to the growth of interactive advertising 

From their annual meeting in Pam Springs, CA, the Internet Advertising Bureau published its Defining Cross-Platform Engagement White Paper. While there are plenty of interesting metrics to be found, we’re excited to see a short and sweet definition of viewthrough. Positioned as one of the three categories, Display Viewthrough is included among behavioral metrics.

Definition: Number of Brand site visits that could have been influenced by display media within a particular look-back window.
Measureable Today: Yes, Web Analytics

While this is a small victory for the cause of viewthrough measurement, there is plenty more to do to get the word out about VT. We’d like to advise the IAB that the prior metric included in this section of their study, “Video Completion Viewthrough Rate” ought to get a different name – perhaps “Play-through?” It is bad enough that Viewthrough and Viewability,  are routinely confused but this could actually obfuscate the different kinds of post-impression behavior, e.g. VT Visits, VT Conversions, etc…Also, the following metric listed, “Searched for More Information” could also use a better name – Viewthrough Site Search?

Other considerations:

  • VT does not have to be at a branded site although this is most likely, e.g. related microsites
  • Any high-value task that can be measured in a Web analytics platform could have a VT source
  • Look-back windows are usually set by the ad server not Web analytics systems
  • Like the “could have been influenced” but no mention of how to understand incrementality

Scroll down to Page 10 of the Defining Cross-Platform Engagement White Paper, to read it for yourself.

TagMan Finds Google Analytics Discrepancies

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Quick thoughts on the recent findings from TagMan



Perhaps advertisers and agencies will start thinking more about the rampant data collection and measurement conflicts-of-interest rampant in the Googleplex…or maybe just more shrugs.

    DAA Viewthrough Definition Project Seeks Participants

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    Good news, the Viewthrough Measurement Consortium and the Digital Analytics Association are partnering. We’re pleased to be working with the DAA Standards Committee, who have taken up the viewthrough cause – below is their call for participants.


    The viewthrough standardization proposal seeks to establish a foundational definition and inclusion in the DAA glossary.Although this metric is measured by many analytics, research, ad server and ad network platforms, it is little known and understood in comparison to clickthrough. The emerging viewable ad impression while related, is more about ad position and delivery. Viewthrough is about latent ad response and is most easily captured by advertiser-side site analytics like Omniture and CoreMetrics. Even Facebook is offering up their conversion tracking pixel with hopes of leveraging this measure as a means to understand the silent majority of people that do not click on display ads but do respond. 

    This project falls under marketing definitions, a new area for the Standards Committee and one with substantial potential as we broaden our standards role. The standards definition project is in the proposal stage and is seeking additional members to set scope and provide input.

    Sample Viewthrough Report

    If you’d like to participate in the viewthrough project, please contact Domenico Tassone at dtassone (AT) viewthrough DOT org.

    For more information about the DAA Standards Committee or to contact the Co-Chairs, reach out to Anna Long and Darrin Wood .

    Calling All Analytics Vendors and Ad Networks

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    There has been an incredible amount of interest and enthusiasm the Viewthrough.org effort from across the ad technology stack, evolving into a real grass-roots Viewthrough Measurement Consortium. Many thanks to all those who have taken the time to share their considerable insights, ideas and candid feedback.


    LEARNINGS SO FAR
    Below are some key learnings gathered from throughout this process:

    • Nobody is happy about clickthrough measurement and its inherent biases
    • With the DAA and IAB doing their own thing and the emergence of ad viewability as the latest bright shiny object, viewthrough measurement continues to be looked over
    • Most everyone wants better viewthrough measurement but are unsure how to push this forward on their own
    • Many digital advertising companies across the ad tech stack are already measuring viewthrough but don’t necessarily label it viewthrough or they are not breaking it out in their reports today.  
      • Reasons include that it is confusing to clients/agencies that are still focused on last-click attribution; also, that there is that lack of standard definitions, i.e. mention viewthrough and get ready to teach.


    It is apparent that analytics and advertising vendors are seeking a meaningful way to report passive display media response. It should be a concern to everyone that many ad networks do not get credit for viewthrough performance today, itself a by-product of slimy performance networks and cookie-stuffing. While the bigger Viewthrough.org strategy evolves (advocacy, research, standards, best practices), there is a definitely tangible step that is low-cost and be taken today.

    NEXT STEP: VIEWTHROUGH SCORECARD
    Vendors that are already reporting on passive post-exposure response to display media (beyond clickthroughs) ought to consider letting the industry know.Whether it is raw viewthrough visits, a viewthrough rate or viewthrough conversions, now is the time and this is the place.

    Below is the current list of vendors known to the Viewthrough Measurement Consortium that provide analytics/reports that specifically containing viewthrough performance:

    POST COMMENTS OR SEND FEEDBACK FOR UPDATES.

    Proposed Definition of an Ad Viewthrough

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    Viewthrough (view-through) is a measure of the passive but self-directed response from paid media (banner, rich media, video or audio). For starters:

    • Scope
      • Post-impression viewthrough follows from one or more ad exposures where there was no click event
      • Although the focus here is on display media, viewthrough or passive response could come from email, affiliate advertising, online PR and “dark” social media
      • Apart from Google’s self-serving studies, no independent research validates the notion of a paid search viewthrough
    • Relation to Clickthrough
      • Distinguished from post-click visitation or conversion
    • Measurement
      • Can be a success metric like a conversion, high-value task or a site visit
      • Can be measured by a brand on its’ own Web properties through site analytics
      • Can be measured more broadly (competitor/peer site visitation, search, etc…) through panel-based research
      • May be subject to attribution rules, such as first touch, last touch, equal touch or staistically derived techniques
    • Time
      • Is subject to a lookback and lookahead window that is configured by the ad server
      • Viewthrough impact decays over time from the initial ad exposure
    • Calculation
      • The VTR (viewthrough rate) is calculated as # of viewthrough / # of impressions (viewed impressions preferably)
      • Impressions should be based on “viewed” or “viewable” for most accurate measurement
      • In-flight viewthrough are observed during a live ad campaign, while the post-flight viewthrough “vapor-trail” can be observed when the campaign ends or is paused
    If you have feedback, please reach out or comment below!

    Calls for Viewthrough, Proper Display Attribution Growing

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    As the digital media and marketing business continues to evolve the interest in passive response from digital display (banners, video and non-search mobile) is growing. Although the banner is almost 20 years old now (born c. 1995) the legacy obsession with click-based response measurement and simplistic attribution is only now beginning to collapse thanks to new tools and better methodologies.


    Bravo…it’s about time.

    Dax Herman who heads-up search-targeted display ad network Chango recently put together an elaborate white paper,  Viewthrough Attribution Exposed: What last Touch Isn’t Telling You. I had the opportunity to work with Chango in an ecommerce setting over the past year and found their interest in and approach to meaningful analytics for their near (but not quite) bottom of the funnel ad media refreshing and collaborative.

    Recently, Dax asked for my POV on viewthrough measurement which you’ll find a snippet of in the white paper; this also led to a recent post, here at the Tip of the Spear Blog: Viewthrough Incrementality Testing. More broadly, we’re planning to collaborate with other digital advertising leaders to further viewthrough measurement…it won’t be easy but it needs to happen.

    Viewthrough.org Coalition
    If you or your company has an interest in viewthrough measurement and attribution please get in touch to learn more about collaborating on the Viewthrough.org effort; as part of this effort we’re looking to work with leading measurement technologies, digital marketers and especially the DAA/IAB to standardize the definition of viewthrough.

    Calls for Viewthrough, Proper Display Attribution Growing

    Leave a reply

    As the digital media and marketing business continues to evolve the interest in passive response from digital display (banners, video and non-search mobile) is growing. Although the banner is almost 20 years old now (born c. 1995) the legacy obsession with click-based response measurement and simplistic attribution is only now beginning to collapse thanks to new tools and better methodologies.


    Bravo…it’s about time.

    Dax Herman who heads-up search-targeted display ad network Chango recently put together an elaborate white paper,  Viewthrough Attribution Exposed: What last Touch Isn’t Telling You. I had the opportunity to work with Chango in an ecommerce setting over the past year and found their interest in and approach to meaningful analytics for their near (but not quite) bottom of the funnel ad media refreshing and collaborative.

    Recently, Dax asked for my POV on viewthrough measurement which you’ll find a snippet of in the white paper; this also led to a recent post, here at the Tip of the Spear Blog: Viewthrough Incrementality Testing. More broadly, we’re planning to collaborate with other digital advertising leaders to further viewthrough measurement…it won’t be easy but it needs to happen.

    Viewthrough.org Coalition
    If you or your company has an interest in viewthrough measurement and attribution please get in touch to learn more about collaborating on the Viewthrough.org effort; as part of this effort we’re looking to work with leading measurement technologies, digital marketers and especially the DAA/IAB to standardize the definition of viewthrough.

    Tired of Google Analytics’ Monopoly on Free?

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    Piwik - Open Source Web Analytics 
     
    It’s tough to compete with the vast resource of Google but Piwik is an open source solution that offers some basic functionality for Web site analytics. If you are interested in inexpensive Web analytics solutions and don’t want your site data shared with Google then Piwik could be a viable platform.
     
     
    Good news! Tip of The Spear Blog is now running Piwik…it took about 10 minutes to install. Copying the JavaScript code over to the Blogger tool was pretty easy. 
     
    Not bad for free and looks very hackable.