Audience tracking is paramount, says WFA chief

MUMBAI: Advertisers will now require measurement metrics that will track “linked media consumption,” said Stephan Loerke, managing director, of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).

Loerke, who was in Mumbai recently for the Global Advertiser Conference 2008, said advertisers’ desire to track audience measurement is increasing more than ever, thanks to multidirectional growth in all forms of media.

“The current media scenario globally has put increasing business pressure on marketers, thanks to the demanding stock markets, shorter CEO and CMO tenures and the sheer size of marketing budgets. The story is true even more in India since the media here is growing phenomenally.”

Loerke said, “At any single moment in the US, a person is being bombarded with about 3,000 commercial messages. Ad avoidance therefore was at all-time high.

“TV audiences are on the decline. 15 years ago, three 30-second spots reached 80% of the UK. Today, even 180 spots wouldn’t be enough,” he said.

WFA research says about 41.2% of audiences surf channels when they see an ad coming, and a mere 5.5% pay full attention to the commercial.

“That’s a worrying finding, considering that loads of money is being spent on the ads.”

Multitasking is another issue. “About 30% of audiences watch TV while reading newspapers. Commercial advertising therefore is becoming redundant, since word-of-mouth influences about  41% of purchase decisions.”

Simple insights about consumption patterns could however drive the journey in the road ahead.

“In London, we found that about 36% of our sample size were more focussed, relaxed and in the mood to read, as they travelled in high-traffic hours in the evening. The simple insight has made News International launch The London Paper, an eveninger which has become immensely popular amongst commuters.”