The iGRP: Are We Apples To Apples Yet?

Like pretty much everybody, I believe it’s only a matter of time before “TV” means pretty much any screen you can think of, anywhere.

Why wouldn’t it?

For now, there are some key obstacles, and they’re all interlinked. Some of the big ones are infrastructure and cost (particuarly in mobile), and — not insignificantly — the lack of an easy apples-to-apples comparison for media buyers.

Mediaweek reports that MindShare and online video ad network YuMe have taken a shot at creating a metric they call the “iGRP”. The idea is to have a comparable internet metric to the TV GRP.

You can get the YuMe iGRP whitepaper here. (PDF)

If this works even a little bit, I’d expect to see the same downward pressure on TV prices that’s happening to online publishers. Reckitt-Benckiser recently fired a $20M shot over the bow of the TV business, which is likely the opening salvo in a longer war.

This transition is not going to be quick and easy, and it’s certainly not likely to be painless. As Tom Friedman recently noted in his book about the changes in the energy business, “It’s not a revolution if nobody gets hurt”.

Still, I can’t imagine a more exciting time to be in the advertising and marketing business. So much of the talk is about the death of the old way of doing things, and I can understand that.

But the opportunities are all about what lies ahead. In fits and starts, we are witnessing the birth of something new.

Who could ask for more?

Photo Credit: Kharied