I think it is a real oversimplification to boil-down the proposed download measurement guidelines the way you characterize. Since I know you personally on a business level I know you are not intentionally trying to malign the group or its progress. Thanks also for disclosing that you are not participating in this standard process except through post-commentary, despite the fact that you were always invited to. And you still are.

What I clearly take away is that you are not satisfied that the guidelines in the way that they address listens. You would like the ADM to establish a firm policy as to what is and is not a valid listen, and create a technical schema that supports that policy.

I think this perspective assumes that this is an insurmountable problem at top-of-mind within the ad-buying community. Our conversations with the industry do not appear to bear this thinking out. The clear message we heard, was that buyers need to understand what measurement processes are being used today in our industry, as opposed to what methods should be used and pushed into the industry.

Buyers today want to understand the measurement landscape. Currently, on average, they really don’t. So ADM proposed guidelines that lay-out the spectrum of measurement into two large buckets: analysis of files from native servers, and those from third party servers.

The best analogy I can think of, is that buyers are asking “how does the engine work” rather than what I think you are looking to have ADM push, which is “what kind of engine should we all install.”

ADM serves to facilitate higher, scalable transactions for downloadable media, with an emphasis on the ad-supported model. We do not think it is appropriate at this point in time, to leapfrog over the important education component within our industry, and unnecessarily disenfranchise members who have legitimate technical reasons for handling download counts the way they choose.

If a buyer can understand the mechanics, and then ask a provider or publisher how those counts occur in their specific use-case, this arms the buyer with the information needed to make a confident buying decision. The buyer would adjust upwards or downwards to address the general issue of data “quality.” We have some members who only publish full verified downloads, this advanced standard is not only applicable in the standards schema, it is made more evident by virtue of the existing proposed standards.

Our proposed approach does not shoe-horn parties into one method over another, but the end approach is that the market (not the technical provider) will determine what is, among the valid choices, the preferred listen metrics. And trust me we are paying attention very carefully to the online advertising industry’s needs as they relate to our initiatives.

If our goal was to enhance the total amount of ad-supported transactions, why would we force toward a position that results in less (but theoretically preferred) transactions?

What counts as a listen is extremely important to the industry. For example we can all agree that unfiltered IP counts is a non-starter, that is why ADM does not recommend unfiltered IP counts. But Michael, percentage of downloads equating to a delivery of pre-roll is an exotic detail compared to where buyers are currently understanding our market. You may dwell on these details as any responsible RSS media data provider should, but I can assure you they are not the issues triggering the average buyer. We are very conscious about making sure the industry understands us first, that this is far more important and effective than launching unnecessarily polarizing technical policies.

Best regards
Chris MacDonald
Chairmain
Association for Downloadable Media (ADM)

I challenge you and your readers to get involved and do your part to help build these standards so that we can all communicate with advertisers and speak the same language.

We have to crawl before we can walk.

Imagine if you were an advertiser and you were going to create an ad for an online video or an online audio what size would you make that ad so that it could go on every video or audio that you wanted it to go on?

Please chime in and tell us what size you think these ads should be then we can move on to shooting your elephant.