Friend or Foe? CIMM Could Create Competition for Nielsen

 

Amid small-town gossip, rumor mills in motion and nosy nay-sayers, the dust swirled and then cleared for a new media measurement team to ride its horse into town yesterday. The new kid in town is the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement — and this kid’s posse includes 14 of the most-wanted broadcast networks, media buyers and advertisers. Ad Town is in a tizzy and I was wondering how you feel about it.

The CIMM’s primary focus is to develop new methodologies for audience measurement across digital and traditional media platforms. The organization is talking big about accuracy, currency, relevancy and expediency, but can it walk the walk fast enough for supporters? I mean, they’ve been “organizing” since February. And the CIMM’s Request for Proposal states, “We are agnostic as to who will supply us with this data; the field is open, but we need these forward-looking metrics, adequate to the high standards of trading and post-evaluation, within the next 3-5 years.” What?

Don’t even get me started on the ethical boundaries the CIMM pushes. Although I like the idea of several different perspectives being involved in the Coalition, can we really trust ratings about CBS shows when that very network’s dollars are behind the research? The Coalition’s members are all citing other successful European Joint Industry Committees as examples and models  for this kind of organization. I’m just not so sure that we Americans are that progressive (yet). For goodness sakes, we as a nation can’t even come to terms with the idea of a Universal Health Care System! But I’m also a proponent of a little healthy competition, and even though Coalition execs are saying they want to work WITH Nielsen, it should give the old sheriff in Ad Town a run for his money.

What’s really interesting is that The Live Feed says the CIMM will make its survey results publicly available. I can’t wait to see all these! Oh wait, it’ll take 5 years. But I’m sure it takes some real time to track viewers across all platforms – conventional TV, online and mobile. If only the CIMM could tell us how they will do it! Then I will appreciate all the intricacies and time constraints. Oh wait, the Coalition stopped short of announcing specific plans and processes for doing that. Just what have they been doing this whole time then?

For the sake of results, I really do hope they can achieve their lofty goals. It would be a new level of trust and a whole new world for media measurement. It’s truly exciting. I just hope the gun-slingers don’t have to shoot it out.

The cowboys and buckaroos include: Time Warner, Disney-ABC Television Group and Disney Media Networks, Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands, News Corp., Viacom, Starcom MediaVest Group Worldwide, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, AT&T, WPP Group (GroupM), CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, Omnicom Media Group, Discovery Communications and NBC Universal.

[Sources: Bachman, Katy. "Marketers, Media, Agencies Form Coalition." Adweek.com. Sept. 10, 2009; Mandese, Joe. "CIMM City." Media Post's Media Daily News. Sept. 10, 2009.]