Dive Brief:

• Kantar Millward Brown's fourth annual Getting Media Right report includes insights such as that measuring and proving ROI is the biggest challenge facing marketers today followed by understanding omnichannel consumer behavior. The report, which was made available to Marketing Dive, also reveals that 50% of marketers are using reach and frequency as well as ROI and sales metrics to measure cross-channel performance, and only one-third use brand or behavioral metrics.
• Cross-channel and cross-device marketing is important with 40% of marketers believing their media investments should be spread around, a higher percentage than any single channel received in the survey. At the same time, measurement is difficult with 54% reporting problems tracking traditional channels and 50% having issues tracking cross-channel ROI.
• The ability to track ROI could lead to more spending with 75% reporting increasing cross-channel spending, and more transparency would also boost spending in mobile, digital ads and TV along with other traditional channels.

Dive Insight:

The Kantar Millward Brown report was once titled “Getting Digital Right” and only this year was the name changed to “Getting Media Right” in recognition of the fact that digital has become the dominant force in marketing while also acknowledging that marketers need to understand the entire omnichannel space encompassing digital, TV and more to create effective, aligned strategies.

What really stood out in the report was the importance placed on measuring ROI, a topic that has been a concern for years but has reached fever pitch in 2017 as big advertisers like P&G and Unilever having been reducing their spend in channels where they aren't able to have a clear picture of the impact of their investments. Kantar Millward Brown's report found ROI to be the biggest challenge overall, and at the same time marketers reported if they could track ROI they would increase spending across all marketing channels. 

While measuring ROI and adapting to the digital- and mobile-first marketing world are strategic challenges facing marketers, the report pointed to a number of tactical challenges as well, including digital ad viewability, brand safety — an issue made more prominent by the YouTube boycott earlier this year — the two digital ad specters of ad fraud and ad block technology, and being able to leverage data to effectively target audiences for more personalized marketing messages.