Nielsen and Yahoo introduced some new research on cross-platform optimization today at Ad:Tech NY. The results are interesting, but Nielsen SVP, Media Product Leadership Howard Shimmel warned not to generalize the findings. It’s more about how they got to the results. The goal is to help the decision process. 

"What we want you to take away is a new approach," he said, which requires a lot more detail and attention – "microscopically analyzing" each individual medium and the ways in which these media work together, to optimize for an overall plan. 

"How do media work together?" Yahoo VP, Global Head of Corporate and Media Research Radha Subramanyam asked. "This is not an isolated world we live in…What does an optimal media mix look like?…There is no one size fits all."

The companies claim the study is the first of its kind to include TV, online, and print. It’s designed to help marketers develop an approach to measure and optimize the effectiveness of cross-platform campaigns, improve reach, frequency and GRPs by changing media allocation between  online, TV and print, while keeping the total cost the same, and understand whether it’s better to re-allocate money across one platform or multiple platforms. 

The study looked at campaigns in four categories: auto, credit cards, CPG, and retail:

Key findings were significant under-investment in online, diminishing returns in traditional media, and the need to distribute media across more than one platform. 

You can find the report available for download here.