Marketers pull back spend on Facebook and Google due to false metrics

According to 62% of marketers surveyed by the CMO Council, reports about false and faulty metrics have caused them to pull back on spend.

While 38% have started to question advertising rates, 24% have already reduced spend with
Facebook and Google.

In fact, negative headlines about Facebook and Google has had a knock-on effect on all media leading 70% of all marketers to question all marketing investments and 21% reviewing contracts.

The new report, Engage at every stage: An investigation of video activation, was produced in partnership with video company, ViralGains. The study collected insights from 233 senior marketing leaders from around the world. Of these, 163 were actively investing in digital video advertising. Some 43% of respondents represent companies with revenues greater than $1bn (£728m), and 47% hold the title of chief marketing officer or senior vice-president of marketing for their organisations.

"The frustration across the marketing ecosystem is palpable, and new headlines that breach trust and showcase systemic carelessness have inflamed the issue," Liz Miller, senior vice-president of marketing for the CMO Council, said. "The industry as a whole must align on transparency and reliability. If we don’t live up to these expectations, we will see more accounts up for review and more orders being pulled. That’s not to say all is lost; there is still excitement about the next evolution in digital engagement, especially through online video content."

In fact, nearly all (95%) of marketing leaders surveyed believe digital media must deliver more reliability and are also calling current viewability standards into question. Only 3% of respondents agree with the definition currently advocated by the Media Rating Council which defines reasonable viewability as half the ad in view for two consecutive seconds with the sound off.

In addition, 30% of marketers who agree with this standard admit that they can only approve of it because there isn’t a better metric to embrace.

Despite this, marketers are looking to significantly boost investments in online video advertising—a channel that 28% of respondents believe is more important than other media investments and that 40% say is growing in importance. 

However, marketers have also come to expect more from their investments and are now demanding total transparency into traffic, viewers and engagement (73%), real-time access to customer data and intelligence (45%), and fees based on performance outcomes (40%). Intelligence is also a core demand when it comes to digital advertising as marketers are looking to learn more about their customers through the in-demand channel.

"Marketers can’t continue to judge success through superficial metrics like impressions when they are increasingly held accountable for driving meaningful, bottom-line results," ViralGains chief executive Tod Loofbourrow said. "Unfortunately, current industry solutions and standards are failing to facilitate this change on a number of levels—from antiquated definitions and measurements to massive breaches of data privacy. In order to shift the tide, we must blend advanced ad technology with the fundamentally human arts of storytelling and conversation in order to help advertisers generate deeper consumer insights that lead to more relevant messaging and better results."