MediaPost Publications today reported yet another high-profile acquisition in the out-of-home industry. Private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson purchased Brand Connections (a multi-channel, multi-venue OOH company) for an undisclosed sum from another PE firm, the Cypress Group. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the company reportedly received more than 50 bids — highlighting the considerable interest in the OOH segment these days. Making this particular acquisition even more interesting to me is the fact that Veronis Suhler Stevenson is the same PE firm that partnered with PQ Media on the Communications Industry Forecast 2007 – 2011. That study has been become an industry standard for benchmarking media spending, usage and trends. Obviously the folks at VSS have been closely monitoring the same trends we’re all seeing. OOH and alternative media is a good investment.
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Is Google the Future of Advertising?
Just ran across an interesting post on TechCrunch profiling the latest addition to Google Analytics…TV ad measurement. This enhancement to their previous offering of Adwords TV Ads promises marketers instant access to key performance indicators:
- impressions delivered
- number of ad plays
- cost
- CPM
Additionally, since all of this information is loaded into the familiar Google Analytics interface, you can view your TV campaign performance right next to your online campaign reports, and even view website traffic and television impressions on the same graph.
Unfortunately, Google’s TV distribution is pretty limited right now, given that their ads can only be fed through Dish Network boxes. However, I have no doubt that this glimpse of what measurement is possible will cause marketers to pressure their other media providers for better data faster. Heck, with an average CMO tenure lasting less than 2 years, they need all the ammunition they can get.
Of course, only time will tell what impact this latest offering has on both the success of Google’s TV Ads product and the industry as a whole, but I think the trend is pretty clear…in the age of ROI, data is king.
