Ipsos offering agencies EMMA at a ‘significant discount’
Senior media buyers say that research company Ipsos, the organisation running new industry-funded readership metric EMMA, is offering price-slashing deals to ensure media agencies start using the new survey.
They told Mumbrella’s sister tablet edition Encore that most agencies have been offered at least one year of free readership data and a second year at a heavily discounted rate if they sign up before December as the new metric seeks to challenge established readership metric Roy Morgan Research.
All of the senior buyers Encore spoke with refused to go on the record until they had fully evaluated the new metric, however, one media agency head said: “They are being generous, offering a significant discount on the price.” A senior media buyer added: “They are essentially offering it for free until July next year. There are also incentive discounts from July onwards if you get in before December for the next year.”
Other media buyers have told Encore that the discounting is driven by two factors: the need for agencies to evaluate EMMA and also a publisher desire to encourage media agencies away from using Roy Morgan data as the currency by which they would determine their advertising rates.
so, basically following the same principles as the media they report on?
I predict in the future the media vendors will be paying 100% of the bill for the agencies to use these tools – as agencies seek to streamline their cost base pressure will be put on the media owners to cover these costs. Especially so with EMMA as its so aggressively backed by the vendors.
They can’t give it away because the data has issues. The readership numbers have issues! Agencies are not stupid.
And no one has an issue with the media companies publish their own “version” of readership numbers? Sounds like they are out to bury Roy Morgan in an almost anti competitive nature.
Newslimited could fund it from the rate increases the intend to charge clients based on the increase in readership numbers of their new survey.
Ted, want to explain to all of us how the data has issues? O
‘“Agencies don’t buy Morgan for readership, we buy it to get a balanced and very complete view of the media landscape and the consumers within it,” one senior media buyer told Encore, arguing that Roy Morgan data is important for wider channel planning across media, something EMMA does not provide.’
Whoever thinks Morgan offers ‘a complete view of the media landscape and the consumers within it’ clearly isn’t up on digital, social, experiential, mobile, time-shifting, content and transmedia strategies or other non-traditional channel options all of which are growing as the consumer reliance on traditional media channels declines. If you’re using it to direct your channel planning then your clients must be content to accept thinking that is more than ten years past it’s prime.
Here’s an idea….how about instead of relying on the traditional media-centric syndicated data source that every single media agency uses as a crutch, you apply a mix of data sources and a bit of gut instinct, honed by experience and some bespoke research to derive sharp and unique consumer insights that deliver highly effective communication strategies?
I remember years ago an elderly black American lady saying “You don’t get nothin’ for nothin’ ‘cept nothin’ “. Wise advice that has often served me well.