Why the industry needs to move from ‘truthiness’ to truth

By Kim Portrate, CEO ThinkTV
Published AdNews

Advertisers are entitled to transparency and truth from media partners. Kim Portrate asks why some make it hard to get it.

From trade media think pieces to broadsheet interviews media companies and industry groups – us included – strive to present their channels and organisations in the best possible light. On any given day, you’ll find at least one of us touting impressive reach numbers or remarkable ROI.

It’s why every time organisations (like ours) put out a piece of research, we get a ribbing from the press. No matter how robust the methodology is or how independently the research was conducted. Of course we would say we have the most effective advertising medium. And that’s okay. I have always been a tiny bit cynical, so scrutiny is 100 per cent fair in my opinion.

And if us seasoned cynics are struggling, imagine how the attendees at the recent Macquarie Australia Conference felt when they saw a presentation from oOh! Media touting outdoor’s ability to reach 95 per cent of metro Aussies.

In an opinion piece by QMS CEO John O’Neill celebrating the growth of spend in OOH driven by digital innovation in the sector, he said, “The numbers don’t lie.”

That’s the funny thing about numbers. They can’t do much of anything but the people using them can get up to all sorts of shenanigans in the way they present them.

When you see numbers without transparent sourcing, it’s enough to make you wonder how accurate, validated and correct the claims are. And before you ask, yes, we did reach out and ask to see the original report – but we shouldn’t have to. If your numbers are shared with the public, they should be correctly sourced.

Read the full article here