With more companies offering different approaches to measuring television viewing and campaign effectiveness, two of the groups that evaluate potential media buying currencies have gotten together to explain the difference in their roles in the advertising marketplace.
The Media Rating Council started as the Broadcast Rating Council in 1964. In 2023, media sellers formed the U.S. Joint Industry Committee on cross-platform measurement. Media buyers and other entities later joined the JIC.
The JIC last year conditionally certified Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp as being usable as currency. That left some wondering what the difference was between JIC certification and MRC accreditation, a question that became more pointed last week, when the MRC accredited Comscore for national and local household measurement using big data, while market leader Nielsen’s big data formula awaits MRC accreditation.
The JIC said it worked with the MRC to define their roles.
“While the JIC is focused on evaluating the transactional readiness of national, cross-platform, measurement solutions, the MRC goes much further in conducting intensive audits of measurement methodology,” the JIC said in a statement. “The JIC’s goal is for measurement companies to hold both JIC certification as well as MRC accreditation. In fact, one of the key requirements for currency certification as defined by the JIC is that measurement companies offering a national linear and/or cross-platform currency solution be in active audit with the MRC.”
The JIC also noted that certified measurement companies will be given access to the forthcoming JIC streaming data service, which will use first-party data from the media companies to more accurately measure streaming audiences.
“It is ultimately up to the buyer and seller to determine the currencies on which they are willing to transact. The work the JIC is doing to bring forward a baseline for transactability inclusive of privacy requirements is valuable to enable first party data in television measurement,” said George Ivie, executive director of CEO of the MRC.
Members of the Joint Industry Committee said they remain committed to “moving with the speed and rigor being dictated by the marketplace to safely transition a multi-billion-dollar industry.”
JIC members signing off on the statement include media agencies Dentsu, GroupM, Havas Media, Horizon Media, IPG Mediabrands, Omnicom Media Group, Publicis Media and RPA, plus national publishers A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Fox, Hallmark Media, NBCUniversal, Paramount, E.W. Scripps, TelevisaUnivision and Warner Bros Discovery, as well as the VAB and OpenAP.
