Improving Digital Media Metadata Standards

by Jane Clarke

Here’s the definition from the CIMM Lexicon for Metadata:

Metadata

See also: Ad-ID, Data About Data, Metadata, Program Code, Watermark

CIMM DEFINITION : Bits and packets of data that can be used for a variety of purposes including market positioning, advertiser commercial tracking, viewership etc., Data that assigns meaning to other data.

2 : The information used in describing VOD assets, including marketing and functional information.

3 : Data that’s typically used to describe the property of a piece of content such as broadcast programming, VOD, interactive applications, advertising enhancements. (Source: FourthWall Media)

One of the challenges in tracking and measuring usage of content and advertising across digital media platforms is not only using tags, codes or watermarks to identify the content, but also using standard metadata to accurately identify assets. Currently there is an effort to make advertising metadata consistent called Ad-ID, which was developed through a partnership with the 4As and the ANA with the goal of specifying common standards for identifying TV commercials. Ad-ID is also expanding to include online ads. Over 700 advertisers have signed up to use the Ad-ID online registration service.

The CIMM Lexicon defines Ad-ID as follows:

Ad-ID

See also: Ad Code

CIMM DEFINITION : Ad-ID upgrades the previous ISCI commercial coding system and replaces other methods used to identify advertising assets. Ad-ID is the industry standard identifier for all forms of media. Developed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) and the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA). (Source: IAB)

For TV shows and channel lineups, Tribune Media Services has long gathered and updated identifying metadata. And additionally ISO (International Standards Organization) has developed ISAN (International Standard Audiovisual Number) codes for movies and some TV shows. ISAN codes are used more outside the U.S., but increasingly are being adopted here in the U.S.

Greater standardization in identifying content and ads would have a number of benefits, including simplification of workflow, cost savings and increased accuracy from the current method of re-keying data at all the different steps throughout the digital production and distribution supply chain. Additionally, standard metadata would enable greater efficiencies in tracking assets for ratings, research, royalties and residuals payments, as well as provide the basis to optimize digital rights management. Better metadata can help media researchers, but it can also help everyone in the digital media supply chain!

 

The CIMM Set-Top Box Lexicon

by Jane Clarke

Today we finally released the CIMM STB Lexicon! It has been in the works for almost five months. Our consultant, Charlene Weisler has done an amazing job writing definitions for over 800 terms in this newly developing area of media measurement, creating an invaluable reference going forward. The idea for the Lexicon came from a meeting last fall that CIMM members held with research companies who are processing STB data: Kantar Media Audiences (formerly TNS Media Research), Nielsen, Rentrak, TiVo and TRA. At the meeting each company was addressing questions from CIMM’s Request for Information about STB data, and CIMM members noticed that everyone was using unfamiliar terms, and they were often using the terms differently from each other.

So a great place for CIMM to start its STB initiative was to create this Lexicon, in order for the industry to start to have a common language. As you look through the Lexicon, and I have to say that I have now read every term, you will not only learn a new language, but you’ll get an education on all the issues involved in developing accurate and reliable STB measurement.

One interesting aspect about creating the Lexicon was that we found there were already a number of industry groups who had started to develop glossaries for different aspects of STB measurement. Some focused on Interactive Television; some focused on Video On Demand and some focused on Cross Platform Measurement or Online Video. But no one had tried to pull together all the terms that impact STB measurement across cable, satellite and Telco environments.

Also, I need to make it clear that CIMM’s role isn’t to set standards, either technical or measurement standards. There are other industry bodies that will do this as the industry moves forward. And we hope they will find some benefit from this first step in that direction. Our goal was to try to find the best definition for each term, and to include other relevant definitions, and also to add Notes that raise issues and questions that need to be addressed in order to finalize future definitions and standards.

Also, if there are any companies or industry groups for whom we neglected to send a Review Copy of the Lexicon, we look forward to meeting with you now that we have Version 1.0. We welcome the opportunity to work with you going forward towards Version 2.0!

 

What does Cross-Platform mean to you?

by Jane Clarke

As CIMM addresses its Cross Platform Initiative, we had to set a definition for what we wanted to tackle first. Cross-Platform measurement means many different things to different people. The challenge in media research is that as consumer’s media behavior increasingly takes place across more and more platforms, the measurement needs to follow the consumer instead of just measuring each media separately. In measuring Cross-Platform advertising campaigns, the industry needs new tools at every stage in the campaign, from new planning tools to new verification tools to new tools for understanding the communications effectiveness of cross-platform campaigns.

CIMM is starting its Cross-Platform Initiative by examining planning tools that answer basic questions such as: What is the unduplicated reach and frequency of a campaign across all media? Additionally, CIMM is looking for solutions that at least include TV, online and mobile measurement. This kind of cross-platform measurement can be done using single source methods, fusion and/or database matching, so we are examining tools using all these methods.

Also, as we have been putting the final touches on the CIMM set-top box Lexicon, I’ve been noticing how many different definitions there are for Cross-Platform, some of which have nothing to do with measurement! Here are a few from the Lexicon:

Cross Platform

CIMM DEFINITION In measurement it is the ability to garner user, consumer or viewer behavior across several different advertising or media platforms for a campaign or other content

2: In marketing it is using several forms of media to advertise a brand or product.

3: In computing is it a software, application or hardware that can work on various systems such as Macintosh and Windows.

4: In gaming it is a game that can be used of several different gaming consoles.

5 : In a digital cable context, it may be software that can execute on disparate cable systems, particularly Motorola and Cisco. EBIF applications are cross-platform, in this sense. (Source: FourthWall Media)

I’ve had people call my office and explain that their Cross-Platform measurement product measures all activities that occur across all devices on an internet-connected TV. So, send in your definition for Cross-Platform, and let’s see how many different definitions there are!

 

2010 is the Year of Interactive TV!

by Jane Clarke

A couple of weeks ago, I was on a panel at the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco, and I also stayed to hear the rest of the conference. If the ability to interact with your TV represents its future, then the future will be here in 2010! Most Americans have never heard of EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format), and it sounds like they may never need to learn this term since the cable TV industry is about to change this name to the more consumer-friendly, Select TV anyway. But it’s EBIF technology that is enabling interactive TV. EBIF provides a common standard that is enabling anyone to write applications and widgets for TV, similar to ones that have become popular on smart phones. This standard will enable the same widget to run across all cable systems across the country, as long as they’ve deployed the EBIF standard.

Technically, as defined in the CIMM Lexicon, and sourced from Fourth Wall Media, EBIF is:

We haven’t even begun to understand the radical impact this can have on TV! If we look at the tremendous impact that apps have had on smart phones, we can begin to get an idea of the impact they might have on TV. We’ve all heard about TV widgets for on-screen polling or requesting information about programming or ads, but what about apps that let you chat with friends while watching TV or my favorite one for STB media measurement – an app to get info about who and how many people are watching TV!

So, let’s hope that EBIF unleashes for cable TV the same creativity that is behind apps for smart phones, and welcome to the future!

 

Welcome to the CIMM Blog!

by Jane Clarke

Jane ClarkeWelcome to the CIMM Blog! Here at CIMM, we have two initiatives:

Set-Top Box Measurement

Cross-Platform Measurement

For STB Measurement, we have been meeting with companies currently processing set-top box data and also with multichannel operators, hardware device makers and middleware providers to try to develop a common language or set of terms for the end user community. We’re calling it the CIMM STB Lexicon.

Here are two terms from the Lexicon:

The questions then become:

Because there are so many players in the data chain for STB data, these issues need to be discussed and standardized in order for the data to be used in a meaningful way by the end user community.

 

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