IAB partners with Ipsos as cross-media digital audience measurement provider
- 31 August, 2021 11:35
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) of Australia has appointed Ipsos as sole supplier for planning, buying and reporting of digital audience measurement data in Australia, marking the first change in its supplier agreement in a decade.
The three-year terms commences in Q2, 2022 and will see the association working with Ipsos to build a new media measurement platform specific to the Australian market, Ipsos iris. The platform is being pitched as a fully privacy compliant and cross-media solution from launch, with further updates scheduled over the course of 2022.
Ipsos’ appointment comes after a strategic industry review conducted by IAB partner, Venture Consulting, earlier this year, which led to a tender process from May. The IAB said 16 expressions of interest were received.
Ipsos is replacing IAB’s long-serving measurement provider, Nielsen, which has provided its solution to the association since 2011.
IAB Australia CEO, Gai Le Roy, cited the need for a robust, transparent, independent and “inclusive standardised currency” that could deliver a strong platform for comparing audience reach and characteristics across media channels.
“The appointment of Ipsos will instil confidence in advertisers for planning decisions on where to invest their media budgets by providing accountability for their investments and offering ways to evaluate opportunities and measure success consistently across all media,” Le Roy said.
IAB Australia research director, Natalie Stanbury, said the demise of third-party cookies was putting increasing emphasis on privacy regulation. In addition, global initiatives in cross-media measurement led by the World Federation of Advertisers made it the right time to reassess the way digital advertising audiences are measured.
“Our goal is to ensure Australian advertisers and agencies continue to have access to the most accurate, credible, and future sustainable online audience measurement solution,” she said.
Ipsos operates in the UK and gained the endorsement of UK Online Measurement this year. The company’s approach is based on combining metered data from a mobile-first national panel across multiple devices, with census site-centric measurement. The company said it also leverages media owner tagging and first-party data sources to deliver overnight traffic volume.
The aim of the game is cross-platform and cross-media measurement and metrics that integrate CTV audience integration with digital currency data for smartphones, tablets and computers. Along with 41 standard metrics, IAB said Ipsos will work with the association to develop unique metrics, such as an Audience Engagement Metric. There is also an intention to partner with other data suppliers to help media owners differentiate their content and advertising solutions.
Key to this is going beyond core demographic coverage and into interest-based segmentation derived from content consumed as well as several other built-in segments such as psychographic insights, the parties said.
“The data drawn from our panellists will extend beyond media consumption and provide unrivalled insights for our clients into everyday digital behaviours,” Ipsos CEO Australia and New Zealand, Simon Wake, said. “Our proposed solution draws on many of the innovations delivered in the UK and leverages our UK team’s experience over the last 18 months. We will also be drawing from our extensive local technical expertise. We look forward to moving with the industry in lockstep collaboration.”
In acknowledgment of Nielsen’s contribution to progressing digital measurement to date, Le Roy thanked the research firm.
“The IAB executive, board and Measurement Council sincerely thank Nielsen on behalf of the industry for their passion and dedication to providing robust audience measurement and their contribution to growing the digital advertising market over the last 10 years.”
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