Relevance is the new Reach: Comscore Interact London 2023 Summit

Our keynote speaker, Olivier Robert-Murphy, CEO of Spitfire Audio and former EVP of Universal Music Group, urged businesses to harness data at scale to drive their strategies. ‘Know thyself’ is an adage that he applied to brands, challenging them to first know their company’s true purpose before investing in any campaign. While it might seem obvious advice from an entertainment industry executive, he reminded those at the event that when approaching content or ads, audiences primarily want to be entertained.

It’s a learning that was reflected in the State of Digital UK report which Comscore unveiled at the Summit. Looking at successful content formats, such as short form video and the top performing content, our colleagues Ira Xhelili and Toby Crisp reinforced Olivier’s point “When content is relevant to people, they will consume it.” The report shows growth in engagement continues across emerging trends in social such as a 632% increase in YouTube Shorts engagement in 2022, year on year in the UK.

Adesola Akerele and Constanta Rata warned the audience of missteps, by brands who force themselves to fit into trends that don’t come across as authentic. Ms. Rata gave a specific example that stood out for her, remarking that “When it is LGBTQ+ month or Pride, a lot of companies do tend to show that they are inclusive, but they are not really, it’s just for the month and then they stop; and I don’t want to buy from there”.

Gen Z thought leader Jay Richards advocated for better connections with young consumers by leaning into qualities like meaningful conversations, co-collaboration, and transparency. Try listening more, was one of his top takeouts in marketing to this demographic, adding that "it’s a good idea to ask the consumer you are trying to engage with what they want to see from you".

The crucial role of multi-platforms and data sat at the center of the discussion was moderated by Colin Borrow, "Beyond the Game". This session had a focus on e-sports and included Mark Gilbert (Consultant to the sports & technology industries), Tony Stern (VP of Research at SponsorUnited), Rosiane Siqueira (Betfair’s Intl. PR Manager) and Luke Burdon (Senior Partnerships Manager at Ninjas in Pijamas). Here fan engagement was critical, as “There is no sport without fans” shared Ms. Siquiera. Sports Loft tech hub Founder, Charlie Greenwood, shared how successful business strategies leverage data and innovation - such as the success case of one of his clients, the ticketing platform Fever and he was bullish about the relevance of AI in the industry. Mr. Greenwood suggested a strategic course for sports organizations, stating "Football clubs should be more like the media companies and involve tech companies so they can move in that direction.” It’s not without its risks, as we heard from Ishveen Joly from OpenSponsorship who shared her experience about “creating efficiencies” as well as the art of sponsoring individuals, teams and events.

Finally, it was essential we tackled the future of privacy head-on as Comscore leads with a first party data strategy including our Unified Digital Measurement (UDM) 2.0 solution. Kelly Barrett, Comscore’s Vice President of Product Management, was joined by, Joanna Burton (Chief Strategy Officer at ID5.oi) and Joseph Teasdale (Head of Tech at Enders Analysis) to look at the milestones ahead including the deprecation of third party cookies. Transparency, data safety, measurement and trusted information sources were the key talk tracks of this panel.

As my colleague Kelly Barret put it best: “In a protection over privacy angle: Consumers are willing to share if you tell them what you are going to do about it."

Interact is all about being fully transparent about what’s next in the measurement space and where we should be investing our efforts. To that end, I hope you’ll consider joining us next time. You can subscribe here to be there first to learn first about future Comscore Interact Summits.