Microsoft develops digital media planning solution

Partners with comScore to build RF Planner

Microsoft today announced it is collaborating with comScore Inc. to develop a digital media planning solution, named the Reach and Frequency Planner (RF Planner), which will allow brand advertisers to predict reach, frequency and audience composition at the ad placement level.

The RF Planner uses a hybrid audience measurement method that combines Microsoft’s ad serving data with demographic information from comScore’s panel. It will offer forecasted reach and frequency for online advertising campaigns and comScore’s post-buy reporting to show how closely the campaign performance tracked to the prediction.

“The perception that traditional branding metrics are not possible or meaningful for digital media is misguided,” said Scott Howe, corporate vice president of the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions group at Microsoft. “We believe online advertising won’t maximize its appeal to brand marketers until the basic metrics they’ve relied on for years are available in digital media plans. This requires the cooperation of digital publishers and panel measurement organizations, which our collaboration with comScore will accomplish.”

The RF Planner will generate a series of optimized digital media plans that forecast target reach, frequency and gross rating points (GRPs) at the ad placement level. This will allow digital brand marketers to determine whether the impressions delivered by one group of ad placements are likely to be more valuable than those on another when the goal of the campaign is reach and frequency to a specified audience.

“Brand advertisers need the ability to evaluate reach and frequency by audience composition in ways that are actionable and accountable,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman and co-founder. “Current online reach and frequency metrics are typically computed at the site level. Measuring reach and frequency at the ad placement level is more precise because it shows the reach of the ad campaign that can actually be achieved, the true potential frequency and the specific demos of that audience.”

The closed beta of the RF Planner will begin immediately, with a select number of brand advertisers participating in the initial phase.