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Mad Dog Wireless, Inc. enters into consent decree to resolve political file investigation

The National Association of Broadcasters has made the following point many many times. But is making it yet again: Broadcasters bear an unfair burden in regulatory fees from the Federal Communications Commission.

The association filed reply comments in an FCC proceeding on this topic.

[Related: “CTA Loathes the Idea of FCC Collecting Fees From Unlicensed Spectrum Users”]

It explained yet again why it thinks it is “patently unfair” that radio and TV companies must “absorb significant fee increases year after year to not only pay for the costs of regulating broadcasters but also for commission activities that are primarily for the benefit of other entities in the telecommunications ecosystem.”

“To bring the commission’s failure into focus, this year alone, broadcasters will be responsible for nearly $3.5 million dollars in commission costs to oversee the Universal Service Fund (USF), in addition to nearly 20% of all broadband costs, even though broadcasters do not benefit directly from the commission’s broadband activities,” it wrote.

It said the commission must ensure that its fee methodology “accurately reflects the benefits received by the payors of its fees.” It called on the FCC to add a broadband fee category. And it said users of unlicensed spectrum have failed to justify why they should be “universally exempt” from regulatory fees.

[Read the comments.]

 

 

The post Fix Your Fee Problem, the NAB Again Tells the FCC appeared first on Radio World.

A study commissioned by WorldDAB indicates that broadcast radios remain an important feature to car buyers.

The research was done by Edison Research for WorldDAB in partnership with Radioplayer and supported by the National Association of Broadcasters, Commercial Radio Australia and Xperi.

Edison did national online surveys in September in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It found that broadcast radio “continues to dominate as the most preferred source of in-car entertainment across the globe.”

In the United States, among 1,060 recent and prospective car buyers surveyed, 89% said a broadcast radio tuner should be standard equipment in every car.

Perhaps surprisingly, this trend was consistent across age groups, Edison reported.

“The survey also reveals that the availability of radio has a major impact on consumers’ vehicle purchasing decisions,” the organizations wrote in a summary of the study. “Eighty-one percent of prospective car buyers in the U.S. say they would be less likely to buy or lease a vehicle that is not equipped with a built-in radio tuner.”

Other findings:

-Among “important” standard audio features in a new car, having a broadcast radio tuner ranked highest for prospective buyers, ahead of USB ports and the availability of Bluetooth and smartphone mirroring.

-More than half said they listen to broadcast radio in the car “frequently” versus 29% for online streaming music services and 19% for CDs.

-Ninety-one percent said it was “important” that radio should remain free. “The importance of free-to-air radio was highlighted by motorists’ concerns about data charges for streamed content: a clear majority (71%) of those who currently listening to audio via their mobile device say they are ‘concerned’ about how much data they are using.”

-Many U.S. car buyers expressed a desire to be able to search for stations using voice controls.

[Read the announcement and summary.]

The post Car Buyers Still Want Radios, Study Suggests appeared first on Radio World.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Sinclair Digital arm of Sinclair Broadcast Group and the Baltimore-based media company’s marketing technology and managed services operation Compulse have selected a measurement and marketing analytics platform to measure media performance across its 300+ digital properties.

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The Gracie Awards, presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF), has opened its call for entries for the 47th Annual Gracie Awards.

“The Gracie Awards celebrate and honor truly exceptional content by, for and about women,” AWMF President Becky Brooks said. “We know the circumstances of this year made production much more difficult, which is why we are more committed that ever
to honor the remarkable work by so many in our creative community.”

The Gracies is considered the AWMF’s chief fundraiser of the year, as it enables the alliance “to deliver on its promise of further the connection, education and recognition of women in media, even during difficult times,” said AWMF Board Chair Heather Cohen.

Cohen is again serving as a chair, alongside Crown Media Family Networks Chief Communications Officer Annie Howell, and veteran radio programming consultant Mike McVay.

The 2022 Gracie Awards entry eligibility air dates are from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021.

Early Bird rates for entries end on December 16, 2021, at 11:59 PM Eastern. The deadline for all entries is January 20, 2022, at 11:59 PM Eastern. Entry details including pricing, updated categories can be viewed at https://allwomeninmedia.org/gracies/call-for-entries/.

The application to judge the Gracies will be available soon.

Crown Media is a Diamond Sponsor of the 2022 Gracies.

NEW YORK — The Broadcasters Foundation of America has kicked off its annual year-end giving campaign with an appeal for tax-deductible donations that will allow the Foundation to continue providing financial assistance to those in broadcasting who need it most.

A 501(c)3 charity, the Broadcasters Foundation is the only organization dedicated exclusively to delivering financial aid to broadcasters and their families whose lives have been upended by tragic illness, accident, or catastrophe.

Personal donations to the Guardian Fund and corporate contributions to the Angel Initiative can be made at www.broadcastersfoundation.org/donate.

 

This year’s plea for donations follows a year-and-a-half of several cancelled fundraising events due to the COVID 19 pandemic, even as more broadcasters than ever are reaching out for monthly or emergency relief.

The Broadcasters Foundation will award more than $1.8 million in monthly and one-time emergency grants in 2021. Monthly grants have increased 75% and more than 500 emergency grants have been awarded since 2017. Over the past 20 years, the Broadcasters Foundation has distributed more than $15 million to broadcasters in need.

“Our grant recipients are hard-working broadcasters from across the country and from all size markets, who have been hit by challenging, often life-altering circumstances,” stated Scott Herman, Chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation of America. “With the support and generosity of the people in our industry, we can help your colleagues and their families get through their toughest times.”

“Requests for assistance have escalated at a significant rate over the past several years,” said Jim Thompson, Co-President of the Broadcasters Foundation. “Combined with the cancellation of several fundraising events due to the pandemic, personal and corporate donations are vital to continuing our charitable mission of disbursing financial aid to those in your industry who need it most.”

Co-President of the Broadcasters Foundation, Tim McCarthy, added, “As I become more involved with the day-to-day operations of the Broadcasters Foundation, I am in awe of the generosity of those in our business who give back by supporting our mission. I would ask everyone who has not contributed in the past to please join our cause and help your colleagues in need.”

Since its inception, the Broadcasters Foundation has distributed millions of dollars to thousands of needy broadcasters and their families. Individual donations can be made to the Guardian Fund, corporate contributions are accepted through the Angel Initiative, and bequests can be arranged through the Legacy Society.

To learn more or to donate, please contact the Broadcasters Foundation at 212-373-8250 or info@thebfoa.org or visit www.broadcastersfoundation.org.

When it comes to investing, financial blog Simply Wall St. notes that there are some useful financial metrics that can warn an investor when a business is potentially in trouble.

“When we see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) in conjunction with a declining base of capital employed, that’s often how a mature business shows signs of aging,” the financial blog notes. “This reveals that the company isn’t compounding shareholder wealth because returns are falling and its net asset base is shrinking.”

On that note, Simply Wall St. took a magnifying glass to Saga Communications. What did the blog have to report? “We weren’t too upbeat about how things were going.”

Economic Forecasting: Broadcast Revenue Trends and Expectations for 2022 What do the experts have to say about the opportunities for broadcast advertising in the year ahead, along with the myriad challenges to growing its share? A Forecast 2022 panel of experts led by Jack Myers of MediaVillage are preparing now for what will certainly be a provocative discussion about who is going to “show us the money” in the year to come. Don’t miss out … join us at Forecast 2022 on November 16 in New York City. Click here for all of the details!

 

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One of the nation’s biggest media companies superserving U.S. Hispanic audiences has entered into a consent decree with the Media Bureau of the FCC that effectively resolves two online political file violations.

One incident occurred in Dallas. The other incident occurred in Houston.

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Audacy President and CEO David Field says he expects a full rebound in ad revenue in 2022 and the company’s third quarter 2021 report is proof of further progress in its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The audio company, formerly known as Entercom, reported net revenues for Q3 this year were $329.4 million, up 23% compared to the same quarter in 2020. And revenues were up 8% sequentially from the second quarter this year.

Spot radio advertising revenues for the broadcaster, which has more than 200 radio stations, were $220.6 million which is up 21% from third quarter 2020. Digital revenues climbed 30% YoY posting revenue of $61.4 million for the most recent quarter.

[Read: Audacy Picks Former NYT Exec for Digital Business Hire]

Field on a quarterly earnings call on Tuesday morning said the company continues to drive forward with “its strategic transformation as a scaled multiplatform audio content and entertainment company, including broadcast, podcasting, digital audio, network, live events, music news and sports.”

The sports betting ad revenue windfall continues for Audacy, according to its earnings report. Field said on the call the company is projecting sports betting ad revenue will grow 100% for the year 2021. “We expect sports betting to grow into a $100 million ad category for us in a few years as legalized mobile sports betting continues to spread across the country,” he said, “including California, Texas and Florida.”

The well publicized supply-chain issues affecting the United States impacted Audacy in Q3, Field said, especially in the automotive sector. Automotive, which is Audacy’s number one advertiser segment, was off about 40% in Q3 compared to 2020 levels. The company revealed today it doesn’t expect automotive ad revenue to recover until sometime in 2023.

“The decline in auto ad spending accounted for a third of our third quarter revenue decrease versus 2019. Another third was due to the combined cancellation of Audacy events and the decline in advertising from third-party concerts, theme parks and festivals,” Field said.

The radio broadcaster, which returned to hosting live Audacy events in the third quarter, has seen a significant difference in the rate of recovery between its larger and smaller markets, according to Field. “The sharp contrast in market recovery reflects how larger markets were slower to reopen and faced more disruption to their local economies. For Audacy this differential has a meaningful impact on our performance as our portfolio is by the far the most concentrated in the largest markets versus any of our peers,” Field said on the earnings call.

Audacy in October announced the $40 million acquisition of WideOrbit’s digital audio streaming and ad tech business and then relaunched it as AmperWave, which will “enhance future growth opportunities for Audacy,” according to Field.

“This acquisition gives us control of our product roadmap to deliver enhanced consumer-facing live and on demand streaming features to our 170 million monthly listeners using the cloud-based distribution and monetization platform,” Field said.

The company also this week announced Brian Benedik has joined the broadcaster as Chief Revenue Officer. Benedik is well known to many broadcasters for his previous role at Katz Media Group.

Audacy listed approximately $1.7 billion of debt in its most recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

The post Audacy Q3 Ramps up the Revenue appeared first on Radio World.

ATLANTA — The broadcast television station licensee that is on target to complete its merger with Meredith Local Media within the next eight weeks has completed its offering of $1.3 billion in aggregate principal amount of 5.375% senior notes due 2031.

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TORONTO — It’s been likened to the plotline of HBO comedy-drama Succession, focused on a highly dysfunctional dynasty at one of the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate.

The family drama behind the future of Rogers Communications, one of North America’s biggest media entities, has dominated the headlines of the Sun tabloid and Financial Post. Now, it appears that the son of the company’s late founder, Ted Rogers, has been empowered to constitute a new board — something his siblings fought to stop.

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Of some 1,060 recent and prospective car buyers surveyed in the U.S., some 89% say a broadcast radio tuner should be standard equipment every car.

That’s according to new research released earlier today in London by Edison Research — a trend that is consistent across age groups.

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The author is with WHYU(LP), licensed to the American Militia Association, in Meyersdale, Pa.

Regarding the stories “LP-250 FM Petition Draws Lots of Interest” and “NAB Renews Objections to LP-250.”

The NAB has a single goal: looking out for the financial interests of incumbent, commercial, full-power stations.

It is well-known that many struggling LPFM stations are not only facing financial burdens keeping their stations on the air, but also to be heard by the people in the communities they serve.

In most rural areas, LPFM signals at 100 Watts ERP at 30m HAAT are simply not strong enough to overcome terrain and spacing of homes to be adequately tuned in for reliable listening. While this may be quite different for flat terrain metro areas, that is not the norm for the majority of LPFM stations.

The NAB and its members are quite pleased that LPFMs thus far have not had any significant negative impact on the number of listeners they receive for their full-power stations. They know that the LPFM signals are not strong enough or large enough to cause their listeners to seek out noncommercial local alternatives to their ad-bloated and nationally mirrored nonlocal content.

How do they wish to sway the FCC against any expansion in service for LPFMs? They allege that LPFMs do not and will not comply with FCC regulations.

This is just another ruse, as many LPFMs have been fined for breaking the rules, and when an LPFM causes actual interference, full-power stations retain their protected status and can force LPFMs off the air.

What they want is even greater protection and monopoly of the dial and to snuff out what they know is a potential problem for them — a potential reduction in listeners and advertiser dollars that have the tiniest potential of being redirected to LPFM underwriting.

The NAB has rejected every LPFM-related proposal for this reason alone. The opposition comments attempt to vilify all LPFMs as rule-breakers and toss out technical jargon to somehow convince regulators that an LPFM being able to be heard by their communities will flood the airwaves with interference.

The truth is that the NAB thinks it is unfair that a nonprofit station doesn’t pay as much as they do for listener acquisition, although full-power commercial stations can pay their fees without nearly as much financial concern as the low-power, weak-signaled LPFM station that can hardly be heard by any significant audience.

Two hundred and fifty watts is not anywhere close to the average full power of such stations, and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous.

Congress passed legislation authorizing such local community stations, surely with an intent that they could be heard by the communities they serve. Increasing that ability while continuing to limit interference and protecting the very stations the NAB supports would meet the needs of the legislative mandate.

The FCC should consider the NAB objections for what they are: nonsensical bias to further protect their financial interests.

RW welcomes comments on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

The post Commentary: Skip the Nonsensical Bias About LPFM appeared first on Radio World.

Audacy will have a new CRO as of Dec. 1. Brian Benedik will become chief revenue officer at that time.

“As a key member of the executive team, Benedik will lead all aspects of revenue generation across corporate, national, regional and local levels and develop fully integrated, multiplatform sales solutions and breakthrough strategies to attract new revenue streams,” the company announced. Benedik succeeds Bob Philips.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

Chief Operating Officer cited Benedik’s “key roles” in the past for audio publishers like Spotify, iHeart Radio, Audible and Katz Media.

Benedik most recently was VP/global head of revenue for Niantic, an AR developer platform and gaming publisher.

“For seven formative years at Spotify, Benedik was a key member of the senior leadership team as SVP/global head of sales and operations leading a team of over 550 people in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions,” Audacy stated. “As the leader of the Spotify Global Advertising Business, Benedik oversaw the direct, programmatic, podcast, re-seller and self-serve platform teams as well as ad and sales operations, trading, global agency and accounts and training groups.”

He also was founder and president of Katz Digital; president of Christal Radio within the Katz Media Group; and general sales manager for WHTZ(FM) New York at iHeartMedia. He has held advisory roles for Audible and Targetspot.

Send People News announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Brian Benedik Joins Audacy in Revenue Role appeared first on Radio World.

In one week, on November 16, American Urban Radio Networks CEO Chesley Maddox-Dorsey will appear as the Moderator of a highly anticipated Forecast 2022 roundtable discussion with two individuals who are highly instrumental decision-makers when it comes to media budgets, advertising expenditures, and determining just how all consumers — in particular multicultural consumers — are included in the media buy.

GM Global CMO Deborah Wahl and dentsu Chief Product Officer for Global Media Doug Ray will be chatting with Maddox-Dorsey on a variety of topics — including the promise by Fortune 500 companies of increased advertising investment in Black and multicultural media. That’s just one topic of discussion Maddox-Dorsey shares in this exclusive RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Chesley Maddox-Dorsey” on Spreaker.

NEW YORK — FreeWheel has integrated a key set of technologies into its platform to enable its clients to programmatically acquire incremental inventory and extend audience reach in a single workflow.

By integrating Beeswax bidding capabilities into its supply technology, FreeWheel says it is investing in the future of programmatic trading as a cornerstone of the television marketplace.

The new integration, the Comcast-owned entity says, will provide a way for media owners and sellers who use FreeWheel’s publisher technology for management and optimization of their own inventory to access additional premium TV and video inventory directly through FreeWheel.

By automating campaign extension using advanced bidding algorithms, publishers will be able to fulfill advertising campaigns across available pools of inventory throughout the media ecosystem, FreeWheel adds.

“When we acquired Beeswax earlier this year, we recognized that its leading bidding technology could be used to improve the value that our platform provides to our customers,” said FreeWheel GM Dave Clark. “Now, with our recently completed integration, this value proposition is real – a unified inventory view, unified optimization, and unified measurement across inventory sources and screens, within a single system. This advancement will bring immediate, meaningful change to our customers and the industry.”

As such, FreeWheel’s publisher customers are now able to deliver against both their own inventory and third-party inventory with the same creatives, workflow, frequency capping,
budgeting, and pacing.

“With bidding technology built right into the platform, users will have a unified view of all their inventory sources and optimize campaigns for performance and profitability,” FreeWheel says.

FreeWheel is currently piloting the product with select customers with plans for a full rollout in early 2022. The pilot is part of a multi-staged initiative as FreeWheel aims to bring enhanced programmatic technology to premium advertisers and publishers to connect multiple parts of the TV and video advertising ecosystem.

In late July, Bob Philips relinquished his role as Chief Revenue Officer for Audacy Inc., thanks to his appointment by the company as President of Audacy Networks and Multi-Market Sales.

Subsequently, a search for his successor began, with Audacy seeking an individual who could “drive this growth and expansion, especially in the digital arena.”

In the end, Audacy selected the founder and former President of Katz Digital — an individual who also served as President of Christal Radio within the Katz Media Group and General Sales Manager for iHeartMedia‘s East Coast Top 40 flagship, “Z100.”

That would be Brian Benedik, who excelled as the head of sales for WHTZ-FM in New York for iHeartMedia, among other key highlights across a nearly 30-year career in radio. He begins his new role as Audacy’s Chief Revenue Officer on December 1.

“As a key member of the executive team, Benedik will lead all aspects of revenue generation across corporate, national, regional and local levels and develop fully integrated, multiplatform sales solutions and breakthrough strategies to attract new revenue streams,” Audacy says.

He reports to Chief Operating Officer Susan Larkin, who was thrilled to be welcoming Benedik to the C-Suite. “His resume speaks for itself, with key roles at audio publishers like Spotify, iHeart Radio, Audible and Katz Media, where his strategic vision enabled the former to quickly elevate from a newcomer in our industry to a multi-billion dollar leader in the audio streaming space. Brian’s considerable expertise and experience will amplify our revenue generation efforts as Audacy continues its upward trajectory.”

Benedik added, “The audio industry is booming with innovation and consumers are enjoying wonderful content experiences across a number of platforms. The Audacy re-imagination efforts are beyond impressive and the portfolio of assets across radio, streaming, podcast, live events, sports play-by-play and sports betting are best in class. I’m looking forward to working with David Field, Susan Larkin and the Audacy executive team to drive value to marketers and our loyal users.”

Benedik joins Audacy from Niantic, an Augmented Reality (AR) developer platform and real world gaming publisher, where he served as VP/Global Head of Revenue.

Before that, he spent seven years at Spotify. There, he was SVP/Global Head of Sales and Operations, leading a team of over 550 people in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. As the leader of the Spotify Global Advertising Business, Benedik oversaw the direct, programmatic, podcast, re-seller and self serve platform teams as well as ad and sales operations, trading, global agency and accounts and training groups.

Audacy requires all incoming employees to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. As such, Benedik is required to provide proof of vaccination, which will be kept confidential.

How much will Benedik earn?

When Philips was CRO, his salary was $715,993 — the fourth-highest salary by job title in the telecommunications industry as measured by Salary.com for FY 2020.

Of Philips’ total earnings in 2020, $555,900 was received as a salary, $138,986 was awarded as stock and $21,107 came from other types of compensation, SEC filings confirm.

RELATED NEWS:

A Big EPS Miss For Audacy in Q3 While more categories have invested more in advertising with Audacy’s on-demand audio offerings and its broadcast radio stations, the struggle is real for the radio station owner and parent of podcast entities Cadence13 and Pineapple Street. The company still registered a net loss in Q3, although a smaller one than one year ago. The problem? Analysts expected earnings per share of $0.09.

Viasat Inc. will acquire mobile satellite communications supplier Inmarsat in a transaction valued at $7.3 billion, the companies announced.

The transaction includes $850 million in cash, approximately 46.36 million shares of Viasat common stock valued at $3.1 billion and the assumption of $3.4 billion of debt.

Viasat Executive Chairman Mark Dankberg described the deal as a “transformative combination.”

Inmarsat logo

“The combination will create a leading global communications innovator with enhanced scale and scope to affordably, securely and reliably connect the world,” the companies stated in the announcement.

“The complementary assets and resources of the new organization will enable the availability of advanced new services in mobile and fixed segments, driving greater customer choice in broadband communications and narrowband services (including the Internet of Things or ‘IoT’).”

They said Viasat intends to integrate the spectrum, satellite and terrestrial assets of the two entities into “a global high-capacity hybrid space and terrestrial network, capable of delivering superior services in fast-growing commercial and government sectors.”

“This advanced architecture will create a framework incorporating the most favorable characteristics of multi-band, multi-orbit satellites and terrestrial air-to-ground systems that can deliver higher speeds, more bandwidth, greater density of bandwidth at high demand locations like airport and shipping hubs and lower latency at lower cost than either company could provide alone.”

Assets of the combined companies will include spectrum licenses across the Ka-, L- and S-bands, a fleet of 19 satellites and 10 more planned for launch in the next three years. They cite a global Ka-band footprint including planned polar coverage, “to support bandwidth-intensive applications, augmented by L-band assets that support all-weather resilience and highly reliable, narrowband and IoT connectivity.”

They also expect to get more value out of Inmarsat’s L-band spectrum and space assets by incorporating Viasat’s beamforming, end-user terminal and payload technologies and its hybrid multi-orbit space-terrestrial networking capabilities.

Inmarsat is based in the United Kingdom while Viasat is headquartered in California.

Viasat said it plans to build on Inmarsat’s presence there and “is committed to preserving and growing the investment of the combined company in U.K. space communications, as well as supporting the recently published National Space Strategy.” It plans to keep Inmarsat’s London headquarters “as well as its footprint in Australia and Canada and across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.”

 

The post Viasat Will Acquire Inmarsat appeared first on Radio World.

“While many ad categories remain highly impacted as a result of the pandemic, it is great to see an increasing number of categories back above 2019 spending levels,” said David Field, President/CEO of Audacy Inc., the audio content creation and distribution company founded as Entercom by his father, Joseph Field.

Alas, while more categories have invested more in advertising with Audacy’s on-demand audio offerings and its broadcast radio stations, the struggle is real for the Philadelphia-based company.

The company still registered a net loss in Q3, although a smaller one than one year ago. The problem? Analysts expected earnings per share of $0.09. Audacy missed the mark by 13 cents per share.

Bob Philips’ Successor As Audacy CRO Selected Audacy selected as its new Chief Revenue Officer the founder and former President of Katz Digital — an individual who also served as President of Christal Radio within the Katz Media Group and General Sales Manager for iHeartMedia’s East Coast Top 40 flagship, “Z100.”

 

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The 12-year-old Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) will be getting new leadership within the first three months of 2022.

That’s because the organization’s CEO and Managing Director who has held the dual roles since CIMM’s 1999 creation is retiring.

Jane Clarke will step down from the positions at CIMM, with the reins at the coalition within the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) handed to Jon Watts.

Watts is co-founder and Executive Director of The Project X Institute, a think tank and strategic advisory collective for the media and advertising industries. He also serves as Project Director for The TV Data Initiative, a consortium of data and technology companies that include DISH Media, Blockgraph, TVSquared, MadHive, VideoAmp, TransUnion, Eyeota and Magnite. The TV Data Initiative is focused on supporting the growth and development of the U.S. TV data ecosystem.

“There is perhaps no one individual in the industry today more responsible for advancing cross-platform video measurement than Jane,” ARF President/CEO Scott McDonald said. “Her ability to help buyers, sellers and vendors join together to identify a vision and act upon it, backed by her unique understanding of the technical and business challenges involved, has made it possible for the industry to be near attainment of its ultimate goal. She now leaves that mission in the very experienced and capable hands of Jon.”

CIMM was founded in 2009 by major TV network groups, television content providers, media agencies and advertisers as an industry R&D consortium to promote innovation in audience measurement for television and cross-platform media. It was acquired by the ARF in 2018 and established as a subsidiary.

During Clarke’s tenure, CIMM launched pilot tests of innovative measurement solutions and conducted research to develop best practices and bring transparency and industry confidence to new measurement solutions. Additionally, CIMM established a framework of building blocks for cross-platform video measurement that includes scaled and nationally-representative, second-by-second TV exposure data; digital census data for content and ads; panel data to fill in the gaps; and methods to connect TV and digital data via ID-graphs. CIMM’s research focused on improvements in these areas, including tools for planning, deduplicating reach across platforms and TV attribution.  Additionally, CIMM has long been an advocate for standardizing metadata across TV and digital platforms, including ad and content identifiers such as Ad-ID, to improve cross-platform measurement and bring workflow efficiencies.

“I am so grateful to all in the industry who have been deeply committed to CIMM and its mission,” Clarke said. “It is because of their vision, drive, innovation and willingness to work together that so many significant challenges to cross-platform measurement have been overcome. CIMM is a special organization where all segments of the industry can come together to jointly evaluate and spur the development of new technologies and methodologies to ensure they work for the needs of all. I am honored to have helped guide CIMM and immensely proud of what we have achieved.”

From the RBR+TVBR Archives: In February, the 12-year-old Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) took to Zoom and conducted the first of its two virtual sessions comprising the 10th annual Cross-Platform Video Measurement & Data Summit. Six months later, we spoke with Jane Clarke to get a new look on the state of measurement. Among Clarke’s choice declarations: The panel just doesn’t work anymore. For all of what Clarke had to say in just under 15 minutes, check out this RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM!