Competition finally over
Advertising statistics The competition between Wemf and Media Focus is coming to an end. But there are still two surveys.
Advertising statistics The competition between Wemf and Media Focus is coming to an end. At the beginning of 2003, the long-standing monthly statistics from Media Focus (MF) faced competition from Wemf, which launched its own monthly survey, the Advertising Index Switzerland (AIS). The declared aim was to improve the quality of advertising statistics. Of course, the two statistics are not identical and have different currencies (see box). This led to confusion here and there. For a long time, however, the two providers were not in favor of joint statistics until shortly before the summer break: on June 23, Wemf and MF announced the signing of a cooperation agreement in a joint communiqué. The key points of this agreement: Wemf will discontinue its AIS at the end of January 2007. MF, on the other hand, will continue to provide the existing statistics, which evaluate advertising at gross rates, without competition. However, Wemf will again launch a survey based on actual sales. In this way, the industry will retain two different currencies. What is the progress here?
To understand this, you need to know the different expectations of advertising sales statistics. On the one hand, there are the advertising companies and agencies that want to know what advertising pressure their competitors are using to advertise their products. The advertising pressure can only be calculated according to the gross rates of the commercial advertising that actually appears; classified ads are of no interest for this. The monthly MF gross statistics largely meet this requirement.
On the other side are the media providers, who measure themselves against their competitors in terms of market share - and the latter can only be calculated on the basis of actual advertising expenditure (net value). Although there is already a net revenue statistic - that of the Advertising Statistics Foundation - it is only published once a year. Wemf is now attempting to produce net statistics that are published more frequently. "Ideally, this would be a statistic that is published monthly like MF," says Wemf Director René Schmutz. "We are currently clarifying what the media providers really want, what they are prepared to offer and what they are prepared to pay."
It is clear that Wemf's net statistics cannot be broken down by product and advertising customer - the media providers are not prepared to allow themselves to be looked at in such detail. However, Schmutz is optimistic that the new statistics will be available by the end of the year. So far, he has only received positive signals from the media providers. He does not see any methodological or technical problems, the know-how is there, after all, Wemf already provides the annual net statistics - on behalf of the broad-based foundation.
New online offerBut there are also changes at MF. The statistics and possibly also the MF company will be given a different, more appropriate name. In order to reflect the advertising market as completely as possible, MF Managing Director Lukas Zihlmann is also looking into including ad screens, direct advertising and sponsorship in the statistics. And finally, MF recently launched a new online offering: MF Creations. Instead of bare figures, subscribers can now also view advertisements and TV spots from competitors. Information on the respective distribution plan is also available.
But what was the result of the four-year competition? Certainly financial losses on both sides as well as a stalemate: the publishers were customers of Wemf, while MF counted around two thirds of advertising clients among its subscribers. No wonder: MF had been named "preferred supplier" by the Swiss Advertising Association (SWA) two years ago. Wemf was left behind. Lukas Zihlmann admits that MF has changed, not least thanks to the competition: the product has been improved, the statistics have been published a little earlier in the month and the figures have been better checked for completeness and accuracy, he says.
SWA Director Jürg Siegrist adds another point: MF has become much cheaper since the launch of AIS. Nevertheless, he has always been in favor of only one gross statistic. "We are extremely happy with the sensible division of labor that the two providers have now found," he says.
Two statistics, two methodsThe aim of MF is to,
gross-to-gross values, i.e. advertising pressure including freespace and free placements. AIS, on the other hand, has focused on the "invoiced gross" (excluding freespace and free placements) - with one shortcoming: under pressure from major clients, TV and cinema only provide gross-to-gross values for both providers, which is why no media mix comparison is possible with AIS. Conversely, out-of-home advertisers have always only supplied their invoiced gross figures, which, strictly speaking, also makes it impossible for MF to make a clean intermedia comparison. As gross-to-gross data is also used abroad and MF is part of the Nielsen network, the MF data is internationally comparable, while that of AIS is not.A second difference is that the large print volume is collected by MF and AIS using different methods: AIS receives the page and insert volumes from the publishers (self-declaration). MF, on the other hand, has the commercial advertisements (excluding classified ads) measured from a size of 200 millimeters (daily press) or from 1/16 page (magazines), and MF has only been collecting data on inserts since the beginning of the year, but only for those 25 titles that account for around 70 percent of the insert volume.
Other differences between the two providers: MF data can be searched for 140,000 products and 60,000 companies, while the AIS database contains around 20,000 companies and around 60,000 products and services. And of course, AIS has only been in existence for a good four years, whereas MF's history goes back to 1993.
No influence on the Wemf advertising statisticsThe monthly advertising statistics of Wemf
is based on the figures collected for AIS, the discontinuation of AIS will have no impact on the statistics. There will be neither an interruption nor a currency break, assures Wemf Director René Schmutz. "We will continue to collect the advertising volumes according to the previous rules." However, publishers will report restructured totals instead of data on individual advertisements. Markus Knöpfli
To understand this, you need to know the different expectations of advertising sales statistics. On the one hand, there are the advertising companies and agencies that want to know what advertising pressure their competitors are using to advertise their products. The advertising pressure can only be calculated according to the gross rates of the commercial advertising that actually appears; classified ads are of no interest for this. The monthly MF gross statistics largely meet this requirement.
On the other side are the media providers, who measure themselves against their competitors in terms of market share - and the latter can only be calculated on the basis of actual advertising expenditure (net value). Although there is already a net revenue statistic - that of the Advertising Statistics Foundation - it is only published once a year. Wemf is now attempting to produce net statistics that are published more frequently. "Ideally, this would be a statistic that is published monthly like MF," says Wemf Director René Schmutz. "We are currently clarifying what the media providers really want, what they are prepared to offer and what they are prepared to pay."
It is clear that Wemf's net statistics cannot be broken down by product and advertising customer - the media providers are not prepared to allow themselves to be looked at in such detail. However, Schmutz is optimistic that the new statistics will be available by the end of the year. So far, he has only received positive signals from the media providers. He does not see any methodological or technical problems, the know-how is there, after all, Wemf already provides the annual net statistics - on behalf of the broad-based foundation.
New online offerBut there are also changes at MF. The statistics and possibly also the MF company will be given a different, more appropriate name. In order to reflect the advertising market as completely as possible, MF Managing Director Lukas Zihlmann is also looking into including ad screens, direct advertising and sponsorship in the statistics. And finally, MF recently launched a new online offering: MF Creations. Instead of bare figures, subscribers can now also view advertisements and TV spots from competitors. Information on the respective distribution plan is also available.
But what was the result of the four-year competition? Certainly financial losses on both sides as well as a stalemate: the publishers were customers of Wemf, while MF counted around two thirds of advertising clients among its subscribers. No wonder: MF had been named "preferred supplier" by the Swiss Advertising Association (SWA) two years ago. Wemf was left behind. Lukas Zihlmann admits that MF has changed, not least thanks to the competition: the product has been improved, the statistics have been published a little earlier in the month and the figures have been better checked for completeness and accuracy, he says.
SWA Director Jürg Siegrist adds another point: MF has become much cheaper since the launch of AIS. Nevertheless, he has always been in favor of only one gross statistic. "We are extremely happy with the sensible division of labor that the two providers have now found," he says.
Two statistics, two methodsThe aim of MF is to,
gross-to-gross values, i.e. advertising pressure including freespace and free placements. AIS, on the other hand, has focused on the "invoiced gross" (excluding freespace and free placements) - with one shortcoming: under pressure from major clients, TV and cinema only provide gross-to-gross values for both providers, which is why no media mix comparison is possible with AIS. Conversely, out-of-home advertisers have always only supplied their invoiced gross figures, which, strictly speaking, also makes it impossible for MF to make a clean intermedia comparison. As gross-to-gross data is also used abroad and MF is part of the Nielsen network, the MF data is internationally comparable, while that of AIS is not.A second difference is that the large print volume is collected by MF and AIS using different methods: AIS receives the page and insert volumes from the publishers (self-declaration). MF, on the other hand, has the commercial advertisements (excluding classified ads) measured from a size of 200 millimeters (daily press) or from 1/16 page (magazines), and MF has only been collecting data on inserts since the beginning of the year, but only for those 25 titles that account for around 70 percent of the insert volume.
Other differences between the two providers: MF data can be searched for 140,000 products and 60,000 companies, while the AIS database contains around 20,000 companies and around 60,000 products and services. And of course, AIS has only been in existence for a good four years, whereas MF's history goes back to 1993.
No influence on the Wemf advertising statisticsThe monthly advertising statistics of Wemf
is based on the figures collected for AIS, the discontinuation of AIS will have no impact on the statistics. There will be neither an interruption nor a currency break, assures Wemf Director René Schmutz. "We will continue to collect the advertising volumes according to the previous rules." However, publishers will report restructured totals instead of data on individual advertisements. Markus Knöpfli
