3MS Is Making Good Progress on Good Impressions
The initiative is on track to develop a standardized measurement for digital media

Getting marketers to agree on almost anything can be a challenge. But with multichannel digital engagement becoming de rigueur for all kinds of marketers — B-to-B as well as B-to-C — there’s a groundswell of support for establishing reliable standards for measuring the delivery and impact of digital ads and a method for comparing the results across channels in a meaningful way.
Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) plays a key role in making that possible. A joint venture of the ANA, the 4A’s, the IAB, and the IAB Tech Lab, 3MS exists to make sure marketers have access to effective, standardized ways to measure the content and advertising that’s being distributed and accessed across digital channels. To do it, 3MS works closely with the Media Rating Council (MRC), an independent body that is responsible for setting and implementing measurement standards. As part of that process, 3MS and the MRC are exploring new ways of measuring digital advertising value.
“As marketers invest substantial marketing and media dollars into digital, they must have reliable standards to measure whether they are getting what they paid for and reaching the targets they want to reach,” says ANA EVP Bill Tucker, who oversees the ANA’s industry advocacy initiatives in measurement. “They need to know if what they are doing is working. The 3MS roadmap provides the infrastructure of standards to deliver against those broad goals.”
Jane Clarke, CEO and managing director at the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), which includes leading television content providers, media agencies, and advertisers, acknowledges that CIMM’s goal of bringing about full cross-platform measurement “is not achievable without, first, a consensus and industry-wide adoption of standards relating to measurement in digital.” She adds that while CIMM is helping to advance the methodology needed for cross-platform measurement, 3MS is taking on the mantle of adoption for such standards. “We are working closely with 3MS to ensure the use of standards developed by the MRC and applaud all parts of the industry that have come together to make 3MS a reality,” Clarke says.
Establishing a Baseline
In 2011, when the ANA, 4A’s, and IAB agreed that an initiative was needed to develop digital metrics and cross-platform measurement solutions to improve marketing and media-management decision-making capabilities, they developed a set of five principles to guide the 3MS initiative:
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