Media Rating Council Publishes Standards for Measurement of Digital Place Based Audiences

NEW YORK, March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Digital Place Based Advertising Association (DPAA) announced today the Media Rating Council (MRC) has published standards for measurement of digital place-based audiences. The standards were nearly three years in the making and provide the framework for syndicated audience measurement methodology as well as a benchmark for auditing the processes behind such measurement. The MRC's standards for the digital place-based industry can be viewed here.

"This is a significant milestone in the evolution of our industry," said Barry Frey, President & CEO of DPAA. "These standards open the door for us to provide syndicated, audited audience data to media planners, which in turn will put us in a stronger position to garner our rightful share of advertising budgets."   

Scott Marden, Chief Marketing Officer at Captivate and chair of the DPAA's Research and Standards Committee, added, "These standards are the result of an extremely thorough process that included all key players-- measurement services, media buyers and sellers. The result is a standards document that will help our industry further accelerate our already rapidly growing ad revenue. It is a final step in ensuring digital place-based advertising's seat at the table with all measured media."

According to the MRC document, the standards establish "a detailed set of methods and common practices for entities that measure digital place-based audiences. These standards are intended to establish and document sound and minimally acceptable practices of measurement; improve practices and disclosures used by practitioners; and also provide education to users of digital place-based audience measurement data from all segments of the Industry."

The document establishes recommendations and benchmarks for audit processes whereby the practices and disclosures of digital place-based audience measurement products can be voluntarily validated by third parties.  In doing so, it represents an important step in demonstrating to the advertising community that digital place-based advertising has a roadmap to deliver more accurate, reliable, verifiable and scalable audience data that agencies can use with confidence in determining the value of potential digital place-based media buys.

The standards represent phase one of a planned two-phased initiative. Phase two is intended to encompass the broader aspects of digital and analog out-of-home media. The expectation is that a single unified document ultimately will be produced to foster a common core of metrics and practices that can be applied across the full expanse of out-of-home media, and that these metrics will be comparable to those for other measured media.

The MRC suggests that the standards document be considered in conjunction with the DPAA's Audience Metrics Guidelines, published in 2008, which describe the general principles for measurement of digital place-based media and which the industry has been observing since then. 

George Ivie, MRC Executive Director and CEO, said, "The MRC is pleased to have worked with DPAA and a broad coalition of industry leaders to develop standards intended to promote a consistent method of audience measurement across the broad array of digital place-based media entities. The standards provide the framework to establish quality audience measurement with transparency to aid the buy-sell process, and were challenging to develop considering the varied venues and environments in which these services operate."

The DPAA is a digital out-of-home marketing association that has created a strong community environment in which members drive and promote their digital capabilities.

The DPAA has proven to be a business accelerator and concierge/consultant for members, who enjoy numerous benefits. These include admission to quarterly "mini summit" meetings with ad industry and DPB/DOOH leaders; access to an extensive database of research, best practices and case studies; tools for planning, training and forecasting; social media amplification; publication discounts; an opportunity to participate in media partnerships as well as the DPAA-Nielsen Service Bureau and DPAA-Nielsen Digital Diploma Series Training Program; insights on software and hardware solutions; further integration into the advertising ecosystem as part of the video everywhere conversation and marketing campaign; and more.

About the Media Rating Council (MRC)
MRC is a non-profit industry association established in 1963 composed of leading television, radio, print and Internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC Accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research and other standards MRC produces; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently more than 100 research products are audited by MRC.

About DPAA (www.videoeverywhere.com)
Founded in 2006, the Digital Place Based Advertising Association (DPAA) is a digital out-of-home marketing association that has created a strong community environment in which members drive and promote their digital capabilities. The DPAA is a business accelerator that fosters collaboration between agencies and the DPB/DOOH community, providing industry-wide research and best practices in areas such as mobile integration and programmatic; and promotes the effectiveness of DPB/DOOH  advertising. DPB/DOOH media is defined as networked digital video screens containing programming and advertising, reaching consumers on their daily journeys in places where they dwell. 

The DPAA's annual Video Everywhere Summit brings together nearly 800 delegates representing brands, agencies, digital out of home and place based networks, ad tech, mobile and location data companies, research firms and others for a full day of presentations, panels, case studies, networking events and experiential exhibits. The Summit is the only event dedicated to multi-screen viewing and video neutral planning.

The DPAA is a Video Everywhere Association™.

Twitter: @DPAAorg
Facebook: facebook.com/DPAAorg
YouTube: youtube.com/user/dpaavision
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/dpaa 
Barry Frey on Twitter: @barryfrey

CONTACT
Mark Braff
Braff Communications LLC
201-612-0707
[email protected]

SOURCE Digital Place Based Advertising Association (DPAA)

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