Sir Martin Sorrell has stepped up his attack on online advertising giants, calling on the likes of Google and Facebook to address falling confidence in the medium amid growing concerns over flawed measurement.
Speaking at the Media & Telecoms 2016 & Beyond conference in London, the WPP boss called on Google and Facebook to revamp the way online advertising is measured highlighting that traditional media is “far more stringent”. He accused Facebook, in particular, of failing to “grasp that nettle”.
With WPP placing $4bn (£2.8bn) a year of advertising with Google, Sorrell said it was unacceptable that advertisers were charged when only three seconds of an online video ad had been viewed, saying the measurement system was in need of “rapid overhaul”.
He warned: “Online (spend) is approaching 30% and procurement departments are starting to have a heavy look at spending online. There’s a really big issue in the area of measurement. Measurement of offline (traditional media) is far more stringent and the hurdle is much higher.”
Sorrell added: “It is ludicrous to attribute a view to online on the basis of a three second view with 50% of the sound being turned off.”
Addressing the “duopoly” of the Internet giants, he stressed: “They have to be prepared to share their data on a more sophisticated and integrated basis.”
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