As the TV industry grapples with a measurement upheaval, TV consortium OpenAP is introducing a new solution to help brands have more options in cross-platform measurment. 

The goal of the cross-platform framework, dubbed XPm, is to move to ID-based targeting and measurement and away from measuring linear and streaming TV in separate silos. The product’s development comes after the Association of National Advertisers earlier this year called for an acceleration of multi-platform media measurement capabilities in the industry.

At its core, XPm is a tool that enables independent measurement companies to get one combined picture of TV and digital audiences, using proprietary data—including data collected by TV publishers themselves, rather than just that from the Nielsens and Comscores of the world—to give advertisers a post-campaign report on exactly who their message reached and how.

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“Each year in the upfront, there are continual buy-side requests for cross-platform use cases, and measurement has always been around the top of the requests,” said David Levy, CEO of OpenAP. The product’s goal is “not just understanding that you reached 20 million people, but which 20 million people,” he added.

The capability is backed by OpenID, which is a new identifier that combines metrics for a specific audience segment into a single identity framework, rather than having to create a whole new set of metrics for digital audiences and for linear TV. The new XPm framework has been in development for the past 18 months, Levy continued, and entered its preliminary beta testing stages this summer.

Another output of XPm will also be ID delivery data, though before that’s widely available, Levy said the development of “strict protocols” around consumers’ data privacy and how companies can access it must be refined. “ID-level data will get us a lot smarter as marketers,” he said.

Participating measurement companies currently include Nielsen, Comscore, iSpot, VideoAmp and 605; Innovid is also offering “enhancements” to XPm’s digital measurement reporting, OpenAP said in a statement.

On the marketing side, top agency holding companies GroupM, Dentsu and Horizon Media have also signed on to the framework’s early stages and will work with the aforementioned companies to hone XPm measurement and data usage.

“Measurement that keeps pace with our industry's rapidly changing shift to on-demand consumption and addressable advertising can only be scaled when buyers and sellers get behind an idea and support it," said Matt Sweeney, GroupM North America’s chief investment officer, who called XPm “a critical step” in delivering efficient cross-platform measurement.

The Video Advertising Bureau will serve as XPm’s governing body as part of its Measurement Innovation Task Force, which it launched in September with industry leaders from OpenAP, NBCUniversal’s Measurement Innovation Forum and the ANA’s Cross-Media Measurement initiative. The VAB’s extensive membership list includes most major U.S. media giants including NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, Fox and Disney.

With the organization’s oversight, XPm’s participants will assist in controlling how data is used on behalf of TV publishers, OpenAP stated.

In addition to its collaborations with OpenAP, the ANA has also launched two projects this year in a bid to scale cross-media measurement: one with Comscore and one with VideoAmp, both of which are part of a series of tests as the advertising group prepares for a planned “end-to-end” measurement pilot in the second quarter of 2022.

Likewise, Nielsen—which rebranded itself in October—has been developing its own cross-platform measurement suite, known as Nielsen One, which the company has said is slated to launch by the end of next year.

Much of this year’s rapidly developing interest in alternative measurement currencies, including those with multi-platform scopes, was spurred by Nielsen's own measurement gaffe earlier this year, in which the company was found to have undercounted key viewership demographics by between 2% and 6% in the month of Februrary.

That incident contributed to the Media Rating Council subsequently suspending Nielsen’s accreditation in September, which has not yet been restored.

Networks have also been echoing calls for a change in the traditionally monopolized measurement world. This summer, NBCUniversal put out an RFP to more than 80 TV measurement firms, including Nielsen and its smaller competitors, calling for alternatives. The company has previously said its goal is not to find a full-fledged Nielsen replacement, nor to identify just one exclusive measurement partner. WarnerMedia is also seeking a measurement alternative.