B8631: Measuring & Monetizing Media Audiences
Fall 2015 – A Term
Tuesday Evenings 5:45-9:00
Uris 332
Professor Scott McDonald
Office Location: 218 Uris
Office Phone:
718-237-0036
E-mail: sm1224@columbia.edu
Office Hours:
By appointment only – schedule via e-mail
Professor David Poltrack
Office Location: CBS Corporation. 51 W 52 St., 24th Floor, NYC 10019
E-mail: dfpoltrack@cbs.com
Office Hours: By appointment only – schedule via e-mail
COURSE DESCRIPTION
For the past several years, media companies have faced profound challenges to their traditional business
models. After a period of consolidation and vertical integration, large media conglomerates found themselves
in possession of the engines of both content creation and distribution. However they also faced new threats
from “long tail” competitors and from new technologies that made the protection of intellectual property and
the monetization of content more difficult. Advertising revenues, the traditional economic foundation of the
media, began flowing into ever more diverse channels with the growth of internet-based alternatives to
traditional advertising. As competition and the supply of lower-cost communication alternatives expanded,
traditional media companies came under pricing pressures that further tested their foundational business
models.
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The course examines the impact of these disruptive changes on the methods used to measure and value adsupported media audiences. It begins by reviewing the classic measurement approaches for print, television,
and internet media and describing the traditional role of audience research in setting the commercial values
for these media. It continues by considering the technology-driven transformations of those businesses – the
digitalization of all media, the proliferation of distribution options, the rise of search and of social media, the
disintermediating effects of ad networks and of behavioral targeting technologies. Each of these has induced
changes in consumer behavior and required significant adjustments in the ways that media are measured and
valued – changes that are at the core of this course’s focus. Finally, the course discusses the ways in which
content-based media companies are responding to the challenges by trying to diversify their revenue streams,
monetize their content assets in new ways, and generate new media metrics appropriate to the new economic
requirements. The course also reviews the ways in which research is used by media companies to select
content for development and to hedge risk – particularly in the development of television pilots for each new
season.
REQUIRED PREREQUISITES AND CONNECTION TO THE CORE
There are no prerequisites for this course, although some familiarity with the dynamics of the media and
advertising business would be helpful. Also students will find the course easier to grasp if they have already
had some exposure to basic statistics. The learning in this course will utilize, build on and extend concepts
covered in the following core courses:
Core Course
Decision Models
Managerial Statistics
Managing Marketing
Programs
Marketing Strategy
COURSE OBJECTIVES
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Connection with Core
1. Use of analytics in advertising and media decision making
2. Decision-making under uncertainty and risk
3. Variable quality of data inputs to resource allocation models
4. Problems with media inputs into market mix models
1. Descriptive statistics & regression in media research
2. Hybrid methods for combining probability and non-probability
samples/fusion/Big Data
3. Normal, binomial and other distributions: reach & frequency
4. Sampling, inference, statistical significance
1. Innovations & testing of new media products
2. Pricing strategies for monetizing media content
3. Integrated marketing communication amid ad avoidance
4. Distribution challenges and channel conflict in media
1. Customer analysis: behavior vs. attitudes
2. Customer analysis: economic value
3. ROI of targeting customers
4. Economic value of “quality” media contexts & engagement
5. Media role in branding
The course is particularly relevant for students who intend to work in ad-supported media or in the fields of
advertising or market research. It aims to

Provide students with solid grounding in the numbers that drive media profitability

Familiarize students with current debates in the field of media and advertising research

Make students informed and critical consumers of media statistics in their working lives
ASSIGNMENTS AND EXAMS
Because of the brevity of the half-term format, there will be no group projects. All assignments and the final exam are
of the “C” type (individual/individual).
Students are expected to attend all classes (for the entire evening) and to participate in discussions. Each week there
will be a brief assignment (short answer or multiple choice quiz) related to material covered in that week’s class. Weekly
assignments will be due by midnight on the Sunday following each class meeting and will be graded only on a pass/fail
basis. The open-book final exam will take place on October 14 in the week following the sixth class session; it will be
graded on the curve recommended by Columbia Business School.
METHOD OF EVALUATION
Participation: 25%
Weekly Assignments: 25%
Final Exam: 50%
CLASSROOM NORMS AND EXPECTATIONS
This course adheres to Columbia Core Culture. As such, students are expected to arrive promptly, prepared by having
read related readings, and ready to participate in class discussions. This course covers fairly specialized topics in the
rapidly changing field of media research. As such, there is no textbook that can serve as a substitute for attending class.
Students are expected to observe common courtesies toward the professors and fellow students by avoiding side
conversations, paying close attention to lectures discussions, and participating as appropriate. Students should bring
nameplates and clickers. Attendance will be taken and constructive participation noted. No electronic devices in class
unless for educational purposes.
Given the length of the weekly class meeting, we will take a 10-15 minute break at the midpoint for students to take
refreshment.
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Schedule of Classes:
Class Session #1: September 1, 2015

Part 1: Classical Media Model and Its Discontents (McDonald)
o Course introduction, overview, scope
o The challenges to advertising-based content-focused media
 Technological challenges
 Audience challenges
 Measurement challenges
o Media audience measurement and its traditional role in media economies
 Ecosystem for negotiating the metrics
 Role of industry organizations
o The evolving ARF Model of Media Value

Part 2: Measuring and Monetizing Television Audiences (Poltrack)
o Classic TV Measurement: Nielsen panels, diaries, and meters. Basic terminology of television
audience measurement. Measurement adaptation to fragmentation of TV programming
market, evolving audience behavior.

Take-home assignment #1

Reading related to this session:
o Advertising Research Foundation. Making Better Media Decisions (The New ARF Model). July
2001.
o Horst Stipp. “Measuring Media Usage Behavior: Improving the Quality of Research and
Reports About Consumers’ Use of Media”. Advertising Research Foundation. 2013.
o Michael Wolff. Television is the New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of Old Media in the
Digital Age. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. 2015.
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Class Session #2: September 8, 2015



Measurement & the Structure of the TV Marketplace (Poltrack)
o Measurement needs of the traditional TV market structure: broadcast, cable, syndication
o Role of new distribution channels in evolving structure of television and impact on
measurement requirements
o Nielsen adapts to channel proliferation: LPM, commercial audience ratings, DVR ratings, C3,
set-top box integration, internet protocols for streaming video delivery
o
Take-home assignment #2
Reading related to this session and to Session 3:
o Magazine Publishers Association. Magazine Media Factbook 2015.
o GfkMRI Research. Methodology of the MRI Media Study. www.gfkmri.com
o Scott McDonald. “Are Young People Abandoning Magazines? A Cohort Analysis” WRRS 13.
Vienna. October 2007 and update of May 2012 “Do Young People Read Magazines?”
o Nielsen. Advertising & Audiences: State of the Media. May 2014
Class Session #3: September 15, 2015

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Part 1: Measurement in the Print Media Ecosystem (McDonald)
o Classic measurement and the structure of print media business
 Rate bases & audited circulation
 Audience-based currencies: MRI
 Specialized studies of narrow audiences
o Internet impact on publisher economics and measurement requirements
 Magazine & newspaper websites
 Digital editions/apps and measurement of mobile media
o Emerging methods of measuring and valuing print media audiences:
 Single-source approaches
 Fusion methods and hybrids
 Reconciling passive measures with recall methods
o Monetizing content and monetizing audiences

Part 2: Measuring and Monetizing Website Audiences (McDonald)
o Ecosystem of display advertising (vs. search, e-commerce, other sectors)
o Fundamental methodological problems with website measurement
o User-centric vs. server-centric approaches
o Hybrid solutions & unified measurement
o The shift to viewable impressions
o Problems of non-human traffic & fraud

Take-home assignment #3

Readings related to this session:
o Scott McDonald. “The Long Tail and Its Implications for Media Audience Measurement”.
Journal of Advertising Research 48:3. September 2008
o Scott McDonald and James Collins. “Internet Site Measurement Developments”.
Proceedings of the Worldwide Readership Research Symposium. Vienna. October
2007.
o Stephanie Fiosi, Gian Fulgoni, Andrea Vollman. “If an Advertisement Runs Online and
No One Sees It, Is It Still an Ad? Empirical Generalizations in Digital Advertising”.
Journal of Advertising Research. Special Issue. 53:2. June 2013.
Class Session #4: September 22, 2015

Part 1:
o
o
o
o
o

Part 2: Review/Completion of Website Measurement Issues and Cross-Platform Media Usage and Its
Measurement (McDonald)
o Approaches to measurement of total brand footprint
o Approaches to estimation of cross-platform reach & frequency
o Single source vs. fusion
o Cross-platform planning vs. cross-platform ROI assessment
o Monetizing digital content: website economics for content publishers
 Paywalls and content meters
 User-generated content
 Mobile platforms, tablets and e-Readers
 Subscription models
 Social media and the disaggregation of content
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Data Integration in Future TV audience measurement (Poltrack)
Set top box data integration,
Over the top: I/P protocols for streaming video
Monetizing video assets through outlets like Hulu, Netflix
Simultaneous media use in the attention economy: distraction or accelerator?
Social media’s relationship to traditional media

Take-home Assignment #4

Suggested readings:
o Glenn Enoch & Kelly Johnson. “Cracking the Cross-Media Code: How to Use Single-Source
Measures to Examine Media Cannibalization and Convergence”. Journal of Advertising
Research 50:2. June 2010.
o Dan Zigmond and Horst Stipp. “Assessing a New Advertising Effect: Measurement of the
Impact of Television Commercials on Internet Search Queries”. Journal of Advertising Research
50:2. June 2010.
o Nielsen Cross-Platform Report, June 2014
o Mike Hess and Pete Doe. “The Marketer’s Dilemma: Focusing on a Target or a Demographic?
The Utility of Data Integration Techniques”. Journal of Advertising Research. Special Issue.
53:2. June 2013.
o Amit Seth & Dave Morgan. “The Data-Driven Future of Video Advertising”. February 2014.
o Jennifer Taylor, Rachel Kennedy, Colin McDonald, Laurent Larguinat, Yassine El Ourzazi, Nassim
Haddad. “Is the Multi-Platform Whole More Powerful Than Its Separate Parts? Measuring the
Sales Effect of Cross-Media Advertising”. Journal of Advertising Research. Special Issue. 53:2.
June 2013.
Class Session #5: September 29, 2015

Part 1:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Part 2: Monetizing TV content: research for media content selection and development: Television
(Poltrack)
o Television program testing, handicapping the new season, structure of the upfront and scatter
markets
o The new TV season revisited: predictions vs. outcomes
o Impact of social media, multi-tasking and second-screen engagement on television viewing

Take-home Assignment #5
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Beyond Exposures: What is the value of media engagement? (McDonald)
Measures of media engagement as proxies for advertising receptivity: print, online, TV
Media engagement vs. ad engagement: measures of ad recall/action
The limits of clickthrough rates
The value of media context vs. the value of ad targeting
Consumer ad avoidance, banner blindness
Product placement and product integration
Native advertising
Commercial attempts to measure engagement

Suggested reading:
o “Measures of Engagement” Volumes 1 and 2. Joe Plummer, Bill Cook, Don Diforio, Inna
Sokolanskaya, Maria Ovchinnikova. ARF White Paper. June 2006.
o Reuters Digital News Report, 2014.
Class Session #6: October 6, 2015

Part 1:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Who Gets the Credit? Attribution Analysis and ROI (Poltrack)
Marketing mix models (and their variants)
Alternative formulations of the purchase funnel
A/B Tests, Starch, Dynamic Logic
Problems in linear media mix models & alternative solutions
Nielsen’s OCR (Online Campaign Ratings) Model
Clickthrough vs. CPM vs. CPA
Big data approaches to advertising impact analysis

Part 2:
o
o
o
o
o
Seeking Order in the Chaos of Disrupted Industries (McDonald)
The ARF media model revisited
Capturing evolving audience behavior
Managing technological change
Scorecard on the measurement and monetization of media audiences as of 2013
Outlook for the future of ad-based content-focused media

Suggested reading:
o Sequent Partners. “Current State of Market Mix Models”. Report to Council on Research
Excellence. May 2013.
o Josh Chasin. “The State of Digital Multi-Platform Measurement in 2013 and Beyond: Deploying
Big Data Solutions to Otherwise Intractable Audience Measurement Challenges”. PDRF Nice
Symposium, October 2013.
Other readings worth a look:
Baron, Roger and Jack Scissors. Advertising Media Planning, Seventh Edition. McGraw-Hill. 2010.
Briggs, Rex and Greg Stuart. What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails and How to Guarantee Yours Succeeds.
Chicago: Kaplan Publishing, 2006.
Green, Andrew. From Prime Time to My Time: Audience Measurement in the Digital Age. London: WARC.
2010.
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Hardy, Hugh H., ed. The Politz Papers: Science and Truth in Marketing Research. American Marketing
Association, 1990.
Jones, John Philip. The Advertising Business: Operations, Creativity, Media Planning, Integrated
Communications. Sage Publications. 1999.
Levy, Stephen. In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives. Simon & Schuster. 2011.
Napoli, Philip M. Audience Evolution: New Technologies and the Transformation of Media Audiences. New
York: Columbia University Press. 2011.
Napoli, Philip M. Audience Economics: Media Institutions and the Audience Marketplace. New York:
Columbia University Press. 2003.
Webster, James G. and Lawrence W. Lichty. Ratings Analysis: Theory and Practice. Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence
Erlbaum Associates. 1991.
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