Jack Neff

Media measurement needs "a governing authority" to address shortcomings that have dogged the industry for decades, and getting one has become a top priority of the Association of National Advertisers, the group's CEO Bob Liodice said at the opening of its Advertising Financial Management Conference in Naples (FL).

“We do not have a very good handle on the performance of our media measurements," Liodice said, in an unusually pointed address opening the session.

But even in the best case it could take a year or two to establish a governing authority and how much power it would have, he said later.

The effort is an outgrowth of the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative, which involved those same groups and recently led to adoption of a standard for measuring whether online banner ads are viewed (at least 50% of pixels for at least one second). A similar standard for video advertising set to emerge in June.