“Advertisers primarily want to know one thing: How many people am I actually reaching?”

The Swiss advertising market is at a turning point and Goldbach is right in the middle of it: As the first market partner, Goldbach is participating in Mediapulse’s Online Video Ad measurement, providing the advertising market with convergent and comparable performance data for linear TV advertising, Replay Ads, and Online Video Ad campaigns in the future (see press release).

To ensure that advertisers can benefit from uniform measurement, Goldbach is also presenting the appropriate product with TV+.

At Goldbach, an extensive team is working on the implementation of this project. In this interview, Alexander Duphorn, CEO of Goldbach Media, Irène Abt-Durrer, Head of Research, and Manuel Baumgartner, Key Account Manager, explain why Goldbach is taking this step and, above all, how advertisers benefit from it.

Goldbach is the first marketer in Switzerland to integrate its TV-like premium Online Video inventory into the new measurement – thus enabling cross-platform Reach measurement of video campaigns for the first time. Why now of all times, and why is this step so crucial for the market?

Alexander Duphorn: We have worked in Data silos for long enough. Our clients are not interested in how many “views” are achieved here and “ratings” there – the decisive factor is the overall impact: They primarily want to know one thing: How many people am I actually reaching?

This is exactly where we come in. As a first mover, we are creating the foundation for a uniform, cross-platform Reach measurement across TV and premium Online Video. In doing so, we are delivering the transparency that the market has been demanding for years.

With our investment in research, it becomes clear: TV remains the strong foundation of every video campaign and unfolds its full potential in combination with Online Video. At the same time, we are creating the basis for our clients to measure, compare, and specifically deploy their advertising budgets where they achieve the greatest Reach and impact.

So, uniform, convergent video measurement offers great added value for the advertising market. But how does it work in practice?

Irène Abt-Durrer: Our requirement for the measurement was clear from the start: We want to report the net Reach – i.e., how many people a video campaign actually reaches – in a valid and comparable way across platforms.

The basis for this is the integration of Online Video advertising into Mediapulse’s existing TV measurement infrastructure. The Video Ads are integrated on the ad server side via VAST tags and are thus recorded systematically and in a standardized manner.

The measurement of campaign contacts is based on the measurement infrastructure of Mediapulse’s Swiss TV research. This includes the TV measurement panel – including non-TV households – as well as the necessary technical equipment in the panel households. This ensures that contacts from TV and Online Video are collected according to the same methodological gold standards – within a secure and data-protection-compliant measurement infrastructure.

The result is a robust, methodologically sound measurement solution that, for the first time, enables a consistent and reliable evaluation of the overall performance of TV and Online Video campaigns.

The measurement is designed as an open industry solution and is open to all other marketers and providers of Online Video inventory.

We have seen how the measurement works and why it is needed. Now, specifically once more: What advantages arise for advertisers?

Irène Abt-Durrer: For the first time, advertisers and agencies can plan, evaluate ex-post, and optimize their video campaigns convergently – receiving a uniform net Reach across linear TV, Replay Ads, and Video Ads within their target groups.

The decisive difference: We no longer measure isolated reaches, but a uniform net Reach – i.e., how many people are reached in total. Double counting is avoided, and the additional contribution of Video Ads to linear TV becomes transparently visible as incremental Reach.

In this way, we create a uniform measurement basis in the established TV standard as well as cross-platform key figures. This ensures comparability, reliability, and a sound basis for decision-making in campaign planning – thereby enabling significantly better predictability and a clear evaluation of campaign impact.

With this, we are laying the foundation for what the market has been missing until now: a common currency for cross-platform video planning – a decisive milestone for the industry.

What specifically do advertisers need to do to benefit from these advantages?

Manuel Baumgartner: Advertisers simply extend their TV campaign with our new product TV+. This allows the campaign to be specifically extended into TV-like Online Video environments.

This also reaches target groups that no longer watch content in the classic linear way but stream it – and at the same time, it creates direct comparability of Reach between TV and Online Video.

TV+ includes high-quality, TV-like Instream inventory, including on German-language platforms such as RTL+ and Joyn, as well as on French-language offerings such as those from TF1+.

You have already had contact with agencies and advertisers. How are they reacting to TV+?

Manuel Baumgartner: The response has been very good. Until now, planning campaigns across multiple channels was often associated with uncertainty. With TV+, we can for the first time transparently demonstrate how TV enables rapid Reach building and how Online Video specifically increases net Reach. The decisive factor here is comparability: Since we deliberately focus on TV-like environments, the Reach and also the impact can be directly compared with one another.

For our clients, this means one thing above all: more clarity, better decisions, significantly better predictability, and a more efficient use of advertising budgets.

What are the next steps – and when will the new measurement be available in the market?

Irène Abt-Durrer: The final preparations are currently underway at Mediapulse, Fifty5Blue, and Goldbach so that the standardized measurement and modeling of video campaigns can be implemented.

The introduction of the new measurement is planned for the second half of the year. During this phase, the systems will be established and the first campaigns will be evaluated accordingly.

A strong signal to the market: While others are still discussing methods, Goldbach will soon be delivering Data. What does this mean for the role of TV in the media mix?

Alexander Duphorn: As a marketer of high-quality video inventory, we are actively driving the further development of television – data-driven, convergent, and future-oriented.

TV remains the central anchor in the media mix. At the same time, it is clear that TV in combination with digital channels unfolds more impact today than ever before. With this measurement solution, we make the success of a campaign holistically measurable and thus create real added value for our clients.

Those who book with us are not just investing in Reach – but in the future of video communication.

Interested? Questions? Get in touch.

Do you have questions about the convergent video currency or the new TV+ product? Manu Baumgartner is available for you at any time.