The State of Measurement Around the World

“

As we head into what will no doubt be a tumultuous new year on both the world stage as well as the measurement front, it’s a good idea to get an international perspective. So we reached out our friends and colleagues on four continents and asked them two questions:

1. What were the significant developments for communications evaluation in 2016?
2. What do you see on the international horizon in terms of tools, standards, mergers, strategies, or anything else?

Here are their answers…

Canada

According to Fraser Likely, Likely Communications Strategies, and member of the IPR Measurement Commission: 

The most significant of all the developments was the United Kingdom Government Communication Service’s Evaluation Framework. Now, the evaluation model that’s the basis of the framework is not much different from AMEC’s 2016 Integrated Evaluation Framework and a number of other recent evaluation models. That’s not what’s important. What’s important is the mandate that the Government Communication Services has to drive adoption and implementation across all government services. Given the UK’s unitary political system, critical mass can be achieved quite readily—in theory at least. On the other hand, AMEC and the leading academic and professional evaluation and measurement experts who support that framework, model, and taxonomy have an uphill slog to acquire a critical mass of adopters across practice. It may be that, as the Government Communication Service is helping to dis-unite the UK from the EU, the Service will help to unite the communication evaluation and measurement world around what works in practice.

In 2017 we’ll be asking “What do the terms ‘effectiveness’ and ‘value’ mean, as part of an evaluation process?” They seem to be used interchangeably in the evaluation and measurement community. But they have different meanings. I’m looking forward to the work of Ansgar Zerfass and Christina Viertmann of the University of Leipzig on defining and describing the value of communication to an organization and how to evaluate it. I’m also looking forward to the forthcoming book by Jim Macnamara of the University of Technology in Sydney. Should be an evaluation and measurement blockbuster.

Nigeria

According to Philip Odiakose of P+ Measurement Services:

PR Measurement awareness in Nigeria has spiked from 0 to 25% awareness, with 11% actually using some form of measurement tool. We intend to grow the awareness of PR measurement in Nigeria and its application to 45% in 2017.

A more significant development was that P+ Measurement Services spearheaded the first crusade for an Independent Media Monitoring and Measurement Association in Nigeria. There is need for brands to separate their PR and advertising brief from monitoring and measurement. Also, PR agencies need to stop grading their own homework, as you can’t be both the judge and jury of your own work. Additionally, P+ Measurement Services started the fight and campaign to denounce the use of AVE in Nigeria.

Now the bad news: AVEs continue and, while declining, the pace of change is very slow. Additionally, there are continued misconceptions of The Barcelona Principles 2.0 as a measurement tool instead of a guide to fundamental principles.

Romania

According to Dana Oancea, Publisher of PR Romania:

The challenges facing the Romanian PR industry lead inevitably to the slow and unsatisfactory progress of the practice of research and evaluation. Best practices in evaluation remain in the minority and, in these circumstances, the value of the PR function relative to other business functions often comes under question.

In Romania, and I do not think we’re an exception in the region, AVEs are still requested, and even big international brands demand such indicators. I don’t think that Romania is slower than other countries in killing off AVEs. Local players estimate the usage of AVEs at 70% of the market, 20% understand that AVEs are not synonymous with useful evaluation, and 10% don’t measure PR at all.

From my perspective, AVE practice suggests that we have high levels of self-tolerance. We know our “sins” and shortcomings, but we look at our practice leniently. This tolerance means giving up the sense of direction and therefore the relevance.

The AVE disease is treatable, but it takes a concerted effort of all stakeholders: agencies, clients (including procurement), media monitoring companies, etc. An insidious form of the disease is expressed in the belief that it is predominantly a defect and an issue of others. In fact, the entire profession suffers from it.

2017 Romania’s PR practice needs a new start. Practitioners need to rethink evaluation and reconnect the PR activities to the business processes, even if this process is laborious and costly.

AVEs will not go away because of the Barcelona Principles or the subsequent standards. We need a change in perceptions at practice level. Personally, I think it would help to look at public relations as a profession where we can apply to ourselves the values that we deem important. And honesty, transparency, and relevance are central values in PR.

United Kingdom

According to AMEC CEO Barry Leggeter:

As Fraser Likely mentioned, in 2016 the biggest development for communications was the development and launch of the AMEC Interactive Evaluation Framework. The Framework is a communications game-changer. By involving communications professionals as well as academics in the development process, AMEC has constructed a tool which can be adopted across the communications spectrum. AMEC is encouraged by the positive international reception the Framework has received.

A number of improvements are planned for 2017, together with a push to make the Framework available in more languages. Already 12 translations are available. Looking forward, AMEC plans to commit more resources to its work in educating communications professionals about measurement. In May, AMEC will take its Global Summit on Measurement to Asia for the first time in a key strategic decision underpinning its Global Education Programmes. By setting the delegate rate lower than that of the last two Global Summits held in Europe, AMEC hopes to attract professionals from across South East Asia to the event. AMEC member Isentia Group Limited, a leading media intelligence company in Asia, will be the Headline Sponsor of the Global Summit on Measurement.

Richard Bagnall, CEO of Prime Research UK, and the new AMEC Chair, said: “The challenge for 2017 is to spread the message about the importance of measurement more effectively across the globe.” He will be asking the AMEC Board to make funds available to help implement a major campaign to drive awareness. He also plans to ask board members to play a more active role personally and through their companies. “Expect to see industry consolidation continue during 2017 as well as the emergence of new competitors. The media, the PR and the communications markets are all being disrupted at an unprecedented pace. The communications measurement industry is not immune to these sweeping changes and as a trade association AMEC has to be fit to cope with them.”

Greece

According to Sophia Karakeva, Marketing and Communications Executive at DataScouting:

Measurement in Greece is hampered by a cultural attitude that makes it very difficult to explain the benefits. Managers tend to assume that, “We know everything… but do nothing.” As a result, communications evaluation and measurement in Greece is quite often limited to metrics that are easily available from social media platforms, e.g., likes, number of followers, and retweets. In most cases, communications professionals lack knowledge of standards like the Barcelona Principles (2.0), strategy (linking outputs to outcomes), and the AMEC framework. As we see in many parts of the world, they tend to measure what is easy, not what matters.

PR agencies and communications professionals in Greece still rely on AVEs (in all media) and focus mostly on results that have no connection to KPIs.

Many companies do not even have a communication / marketing team or the budget to invest in actions besides press releases and ads. In most cases they measure (if they measure at all) only outputs, not outcomes.

While there are several measurement companies in Greece, few offer any level of consulting, and restrict offerings to what can be measured in the media (e.g., press, broadcast, web, social). There is almost no measurement of perception, advocacy, etc. The biggest obstacle, as far as I am concerned, is poor education in marketing research, measurement, and evaluation.

 

Germany

According to Nanette Besson, General Manager at evaluamus:

Not much has changed since my last report, except that budgets have gotten smaller. Everyone wants Cheap Measurement. Nobody really wants to pay for measurement. Analysis rates are below 40 Euro ($42.30) an hour, compared to $80 – $250 in the U.S. To teach a workshop, it’s about 50 Euro. Interest in global measurement is growing. Companies want to be measured worldwide, even if this means German media are to be reduced to 50 key media, despite the fact that more than 22,000 German print media exist. Measurement is important, just not now.

Uruguay

Gabriela Carrau, our correspondent in Uruguay reports: 

In Uruguay the big development is “viewability” evaluation (The Media Ratings Council will be happy to hear this.) Viewability measures the audience, and how many “real” people have seen the ad and for how long. The other major measurement focus is the amount of time people are watching online video. Not just how many people watched a video, but how many seconds they actually spent. And, as in other countries, ad blocking is a growing issue in Uruguay.  Given that it increased 41% worldwide between 2014 and 2015, it is an issue for everyone.

In 2017 we see the emphasis on viewability growing.

∞

(Thanks to Michael Sandberg’s Data Visualization Blog for the world map of flags.)