IAB Australia has appointed Ipsos as the industry’s exclusive and preferred supplier for the planning, buying, and reporting of digital audience measurement data in Australia.
The appointment of Ipsos, and its ‘Ipsos iris’ system, as the preferred supplier is the culmination of extensive work by the IAB commencing early this year with a strategic industry review of requirements conducted by Venture Consulting. This formed the basis for the standards and specifications of a tender issued in May which invited measurement vendors to submit their services for tender evaluation.
Sixteen measurement organisations expressed interest in responding to the tender.
Ipsos iris: a system that suits large and niche publishers alike
The Ipsos iris system chosen will allow media owners to reassert their value proposition and prove greater differentiation and provide agencies and advertisers a trusted independent foundation to make evidence-based media decisions.
Currently used in the UK, Ipsos iris aims to address the future needs of the whole digital market, inclusive of both large and niche publishers across text, video and audio streaming content accessed on desktop/laptop, smartphones, tablets, and CTV. This includes the audience measurement of media owner content distributed on a range of platforms.
A fully privacy compliant solution at GDPR standards, Ipsos Iris has no reliance on third-party data providers, minimising the risk of future disruption.
It uses a hybrid methodology combining metered data from a high quality, nationally representative, mobile-first single-source passive panel with census site-centric measurement.
The methodology also leverages media owner tagging and first-party data to deliver daily overnight traffic volume.In addition to broad core demographic coverage, Ipsos iris goes beyond to report interest-based segmentation derived from content consumed as well as several other built-in segments such as psychographic segments.
Locally, Ipsos iris will be built from the ground up in collaboration with IAB Australia to meet the needs of the Australian market. The appointment is for a three-year term commencing in Q2 2022 with the launch of Ipsos iris.
Along with 41 standard metrics available, Ipsos will work with the IAB to develop new metrics (such as an Audience Engagement Metric) and partner with other data suppliers to provide additional ways for media owners to demonstrate the unique attributes of their properties and help commercialisation of their content.
Ipsos iris will continue to evolve with a roadmap of enhancements over 2022. It will also be adaptable to changing requirements as the industry develops in future years.
Time for a change: dealing with a cookie-less future
Australia was amongst the first countries to complete a formal tender and technical review process of hybrid measurement methodology and was the first to formally announce, through this process, an endorsed supplier of this methodology.
Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia said: “It’s vitally important to have a robust, transparent and inclusive standardised currency from an independent measurement vendor to provide a level playing field for comparison of audience reach and characteristics. 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.”
For over 10 years, the IAB has endorsed a sole and exclusive provider for the measurement of digital audience content consumption. Nielsen was first appointed as the preferred supplier in 2011 providing standardised data and understanding of the value of audiences across media properties. Nielsen has led many developments in digital content measurement through times of great change in our industry.
Natalie Stanbury, Research Director at IAB Australia commented: “With the retirement of third-party cookies, the increasing emphasis on privacy regulation,…it was the right time for reassessment of how digital 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.“
As an independent industry association with more than 150 members in Australia and nearly 9,000 globally spanning media owners, publishers, technology companies, agencies and advertisers, IAB works to align industry stakeholders to develop solutions for the issues faced by the market and develop standards that are integral to the operation of digital advertising.
Ipsos is the world’s third-largest market research company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.
