We might be media quality skeptics

Everyone in the industry throws the word "quality" around. Almost no one defines it the same way twice. This week, we're building our own definition, and calling out the one thing that should never be negotiable. 

—Elena

Reach is the top answer marketers give when asked to define "quality" media. 

A new eMarketer and Verve survey found buyers still can't agree on a shared definition for quality, but reach topped the list of answers anyway. That answer says little about whether real people ever saw the ad, a gap researchers point to as one reason so many media budgets underdeliver. 

 

What Actually Makes Media "Quality"? 

 

What does "quality media" mean?  

Reaching real humans, in a place where your ad can do its job, at a price that lets the math work. Strip away the jargon around viewability, brand safety and dwell time, and that's what quality really is. Everything else is a proxy for those three things. 

Does the input matter when the results already look good?  

Only if you trust the measurement behind those results. Last-click and generous view-through windows can make almost anything look clean. Run something closer to an incrementality test or a match market, and confirm the lift is real before you stop asking where your media is running. 

Does a "premium" environment make creative work harder?  

Not much evidence supports that idea. Distinctive, well-branded creative holds up in a rerun of a cooking show as well as it does during a marquee event. Pay more for a big-name program because the audience fits your goal, not because the name alone feels safer. 

What’s non-negotiable? 

Fraud. Bot traffic, spoofed domains and made-for-advertising sites aren't part of the quality debate. They're theft, and no clever measurement can rescue money spent on an ad that no human ever saw.

 

Listen in on our discussion.

 

“New Channel, Same Old Tricks: How Legacy Web Tactics Are Undermining CTV Advertising” 

Blockboard CEO Matt Wasserlauf breaks down how a 20-year-old web tactic called reach extension keeps sneaking into direct CTV deals, quietly mixing bot traffic and spoofed domains in with premium inventory. It's a clear-eyed reminder that "going direct" doesn't automatically mean going clean. 

Read the article.

 

Wisdom for media buyers.

“Trust, but verify” 

— Russian proverb

This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.