Strong emphasis on AI, machine learning, and the need for more unified and accurate measurement

Sydney – February 13, 2024 – Nielsen, a global leader in measurement and analytics, recently shared its data and trend information as part of IAB Australia’s Marketing Measurement Innovation Series.

Drawing on data from Nielsen’s most recent Annual Marketing Report, the data focused on what’s shaping media and marketing in the region. The research highlighted that while 66% of marketers recognise the crucial need for end-to-end measurement, a mere 17% feel equipped to implement it effectively. 

This gap in confidence and capability is particularly pronounced in the Asia-Pacific region, where only 45% of marketers are confident in their ability to measure ROI across digital channels meaningfully.

Kirsten Riolo, Nielsen Australia’s Head of Publishers and Platforms, expressed concern about the lack of confidence in calculating ROI, which she says is impeding industry growth and the optimisation of campaigns: “Worryingly, confidence in calculating ROI across digital channels remains startlingly low in APAC, with only 45% of marketers feeling assured that they’ll be able to measure it in a meaningful way.”

Andre Furze, Nielsen’s Director of Marketing Effectiveness for Australia and New Zealand, echoed Riolo’’s concerns, emphasising the challenges posed by the industry-wide use of disparate martech solutions for cross-media measurement: “This scattergun approach makes viewing performance, especially against the rest of the industry, particularly problematic. Developing a well-structured marketing strategy and tailored measurement framework, which incorporates various solutions, like econometrics modelling, such as Nielsen Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM), A/B testing and attribution are needed in order to better utilise resources and drive success.”

Nielsen’s contribution to the IAB series also underscored the transformative role of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in effective marketing mix modelling (MMM), highlighting the value of Nielsen’s Predictive ROI (PROI) solution, which leverages Machine Learning and Artificial intelligence to forecast the ROI of a brand’s media plan with minimal inputs and faster, more cost-effective results.

This solution utilises Nielsen’s comprehensive Compass ROI database, which includes extensive models and data across 60 countries, 100 categories, 3000 brands, and 5000 models.

Despite recent tech advancements, Riolo acknowledged the concerns of several experts regarding the oversimplification of algorithms in automated marketing evaluation tools, especially given the increasing trend of audiences travelling across various channels, adding: “In a media universe where audiences are increasingly becoming platform nomads, it’s essential for marketers, agencies, and brands to invest in the latest tools and technology to ensure their messages resonate with their audiences. Whether you’re a marketer, an agency, or a brand, you’ll need to invest in the latest tools and technology to ensure your message not only reaches your audience but resonates. As champions of the APAC media ecosystem, our role isn’t just to understand the changing landscape, but to shape it, facilitating data-driven decision-making for both strategic planning and in-campaign optimisation.

In addition, Riolo and Furze offered recommendations for marketers wishing to effectively navigate APAC’s rapidly changing media and marketing landscape, including:

• Prioritising upper-funnel marketing as a significant part of investment strategies
• Fostering understanding and support for upper-funnel efforts within organisations
• Acknowledging and managing the duality of objectives in channel mixes
• Simultaneously optimising for multiple objectives
• Developing a resilient plan to maintain strategic direction
• Holistically measuring short-term, long-term, and equity impacts to adapt to best practices and market trends, and;
• Investing in a unified and accurate measurement solution

In response to the industry’s changing needs and commitment to measurement excellence, Nielsen has introduced a novel solution that integrates short-term, long-term, and equity impacts into a singular, innovative solution, empowering marketers to make smarter, data-driven decisions that drive business growth, called Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM).

About Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM)

Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling enables customers to assess the impact of their investments, understand what’s working, and optimise marketing budgets accordingly. It provides answers to critical marketing questions using industry-leading performance models for data coverage and granularity, so you can make current and future marketing decisions with confidence.

About Nielsen

Nielsen shapes the world’s media and content as a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviours across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their audiences – now and into the future. Nielsen operates around the world in more than 55 countries.

Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram)

Commercial Contacts

Media Contact

Dan Chapman
Assoc. Director, Communications, Nielsen APAC
dan.chapman@nielsen.com
+61 404 088 462