The long-held advertising adage that "all media isn’t created equal" is facing a significant challenge within the programmatic ecosystem, where the prevailing theory often prioritizes audience targeting over the inherent quality of the media itself. This pervasive notion suggests that ad formats and creative elements can be standardized and commoditized, as the primary focus is on reaching a specific audience. However, a forthcoming paper from the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) aims to fundamentally disrupt this perspective, particularly concerning Connected TV (CTV) inventory. Teased during CIMM’s recent East event in New York City, a pre-release copy reviewed by AdExchanger reveals a robust argument that goes beyond simply measuring media quality differences. The paper contends that the industry’s relentless focus on short-term outcomes has perpetuated critical issues, including the proliferation of made-for-advertising (MFA) sites that exploit programmatic loopholes, brands inadvertently overspending on low-quality CTV ads alongside premium placements, and ad tech vendors who disproportionately emphasize audience value over the intrinsic worth of the media environment.
Erez Levin, founder of ad tech consultancy Emet Advisory and a co-author of the paper, articulated the problem: "Quality has been a buzzword for a while in this industry, and no one’s really defined it, except, for the most part, in self-serving ways." CIMM’s initiative, therefore, seeks to establish an "objective, industry-wide shared consensus and framework" to move discussions around media quality measurement out of a perceived "limbo." The paper’s objective is not to introduce new measurement standards per se, but rather to catalyze an industry-wide conversation that compels agencies, tech platforms, and publishers to articulate a coherent methodology for assessing media quality.
The Imperative for Consensus in a Fragmented Ecosystem
The impetus for CIMM’s paper is deeply rooted in the rapidly expanding landscape of media quality, curation, and programmatic verification services. The market has seen an influx of startups such as Jounce Media, DeepSee, Sincera, Adalytics, and Gamera, each approaching the complex challenge of media quality from unique angles. This burgeoning field has also been revitalized by the prominence of publicly traded incumbents like DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science, alongside emerging trends in attention measurement and deal curation that offer novel ways to transact based on quality signals.
The groundwork for this paper was laid during CIMM’s collaboration with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) on the Attention Measurement Playbook for Marketers, released late last year. As the working group delved into designing attention standards, a recurring obstacle was the lack of industry-wide consensus on how to effectively measure the quality of ad impressions. Despite these challenges, significant progress is being made, and CIMM’s paper aims to illuminate the new tools and methodologies now available to advertisers.
Levin, who has been a vocal advocate for enhanced quality and attention measurement since at least 2017 when he served as a product specialist for Google Marketing Platform, co-authored the paper with Gabriel Dorosz, the global advertising initiative lead at the International News Media Association and former head of audience strategy for The New York Times. Dorosz’s involvement stems from his experience on the publisher side. "In the premium news publisher space, there’s a belief that the market is not serving those kinds of publishers well," Dorosz stated. "My passion is that quality publishers ought to be getting more of their fair share of ad spend, and this paper is a way to advance that."
Dispelling Myths and Reorienting Value
Beyond advocating for publishers’ need to demonstrate media quality, Dorosz emphasized that the paper also aims to equip buyers with the knowledge to avoid squandering resources on ineffective ad placements. The authors set out to debunk deeply entrenched myths that have arisen from what Dorosz describes as buyers being "oversold on the value of certainty."
A prime example cited is the industry’s heavy reliance on deterministic attribution as a proxy for audience value. The presence of a deterministic identifier in a bid request often renders that inventory inherently more valuable than one lacking such an identifier, overshadowing factors like time of day, contextual data, and device type. However, the CIMM paper posits that probabilistic modeling, rather than deterministic data alone, offers a more accurate reflection of the true value across a diverse range of ad impressions.
CIMM’s guidance encourages marketers to incorporate probabilistic metrics, such as attention scoring and contextual relevance, to better assess an impression’s potential to advance stated campaign objectives. The paper details how these metrics can fluctuate significantly based on temporal and contextual factors. For instance, the high price points often associated with premium CTV inventory are questioned. Levin highlighted that major streaming platforms maintain elevated pricing even for ads served during overnight hours, when audience receptivity is typically lower. This suggests that advertisers should scrutinize campaigns that allocate substantial budgets to overnight slots, questioning the rationale if such spending occurs without a clear strategic purpose.
A New Paradigm: The Quality Trifecta
To re-center the industry’s focus on media quality, the paper introduces a novel framework designed to reconnect with foundational marketing principles. This model is largely built upon "The Quality Trifecta," a concept championed by Levin, which posits that media quality, creative quality, and audience quality should be independently assessed.
Within this trifecta, media quality is further dissected into two key components: "attention," referring to the prominence and visibility of the ad placement, and "situational context," which encompasses the likelihood that the surrounding media environment fosters a receptive mood in the viewer.
The paper strongly advises marketers to move beyond simplistic, binary quality assessment methods, such as merely checking for an ID in a bid request or meeting a minimum viewability threshold. Instead, it advocates for "non-binary, relative and probabilistic" measurements, like attention scoring, which evaluate media quality on a spectrum of effectiveness. Levin explained that these more nuanced approaches facilitate more accurate comparisons across different media types and are better equipped to capture variations related to audience demographics and contextual elements like the time of day.
Furthermore, the paper underscores the importance of considering both short-term performance metrics and long-term brand-building opportunities. While acknowledging that smaller brands reliant on immediate returns should continue to prioritize short-term outcomes, the broader implication is a call for a more balanced strategic approach to ad investment.
CTV as the Proving Ground and the Buy-Side Imperative
While the CIMM paper is intended as a comprehensive guide for the entire open web, the authors identify streaming media and CTV supply as the critical proving ground. This is due to CTV’s status as a high-stakes market characterized by elevated CPMs, intense demand, and expansive creative canvases. Dorosz further noted that CTV’s relative newness and lack of entrenched third-party cookie dependency mean its players are not constrained by the same established norms as other digital channels. Moreover, many traditional pixel-based measurement techniques, effective on other platforms, prove inadequate for the unique characteristics of CTV.
For example, the paper challenges the conventional approach to viewability measurement for CTV. Given that CTV ads typically autoplay with sound and occupy the full screen, the traditional viewability debate is rendered largely moot. The focus, therefore, should shift to other, more relevant quality indicators.
Ultimately, while industry-wide adoption remains the overarching goal, the authors concur that the buy side must spearhead this transformative shift. Dorosz concluded, "These theories only matter if the buy side demonstrates success and drives repeatability." The successful implementation and validation of these new quality frameworks by advertisers will be the crucial factor in their broader acceptance and the reshaping of programmatic advertising’s future. The paper’s release is anticipated to ignite a more rigorous and unified approach to media quality, moving beyond mere audience aggregation to a more holistic understanding of advertising’s true impact and value.
