In our last blog post, we outlined some of the many sets of variables available to viewers in today’s modern media ecosystem. In short, there are more than ever to consider and measure appropriately. For this reason, media stakeholders are challenged as they attempt to stitch together a patchwork of disparate data sources that each capture different components of an individual’s media experience.
Modern Panels Solve For Today’s Measurement Challenges
In order to create and deliver the right media experiences to the right audiences, there needs to be a granular understanding of who is experiencing what, when, and how.
The optimal means of measurement for ensuring that the entirety of this data is captured is a panel. Unlike census-level data, panels are able to understand the vast tapestry of individual media touchpoints that take place within the home and are not limited to a single device or silo. They are purposefully constructed environments that are capable of measuring all forms of media within the home.
In the larger media ecosystem, panel data plays a fundamental role in providing an understanding of the broader fabric of individual media behavior.
As such, they are the linchpin of many major data methodologies. When combined with larger census data sets, panel data serves as the “source of truth”, ensuring that this crucial layer of information is represented in the broader media landscape.
Panels have played an important role in media for decades. But as consumer behavior evolves, so too does the need to measure it. As the days of the whole family gathering around the TV at the same time to watch a live show are no longer the norm, panel measurement solutions have evolved to measure new forms of behavior.
Our Unique Approach to Measuring Today’s Viewer
At Hypha, we have crafted a modern panel environment that is purposefully designed to definitively capture data from all media within the home, and connect that information to the individual who is experiencing that media.
Whether it’s the whole family gathered around the TV, someone streaming Netflix, or using a meditation app on their own, these distinct individual media occurrences are captured and reported accordingly.
Our panels are designed explicitly to allow participants to engage in their lives with minimal intrusion. We do so in order to ensure that the data we collect reflects the real behaviors of real people in their natural habitats. This data collection methodology uses three different layers of person detection recognition (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and infrared) to definitively connect the individual to the media occurrence they experience.
Individualized Data Can Unite a Fragmented Ecosystem
Individualized media metrics are a vital component in the media measurement landscape. A granular understanding of the real and multi-faceted media behaviors of individuals today can serve as the connective tissue through which the rest of the industry communicates.
When a media experience takes place, device delivery data is collected in fragments that cannot capture the breadth of the entire media experience. But with the added layer of cross-platform individualized data derived from a panel, all of these disparate fragments have a source of truth to benchmark against. With this crucial layer of individual level viewing information, the fragmented data ecosystem can be united.
Paul Evans, CEO of Adgile Media summarized this concept: “panels provide us with a constant and statistically sound method to effectively understand and address audiences and their behavioural insights, without infringing privacy or consent rights. They can therefore provide a welcome foundation to market measurement, straddling different platforms or tech that inherently lack integration.”
Our measurement solution provides the necessary layer of definitive cross-platform, individual-level viewing data that can be used as a source of truth across the media ecosystem. With data that represents how individuals are behaving with media, the entire media landscape will be able to truly understand what happens in home media environments and calibrate their existing data in accordance.