Source © alphaspirit 123rf The IAB South Africa has formed a three-year publishing industry measurement partnership with dY/dX, to provide a standardised measurement currency for publishers

dY/dX is a digital transformation company that provides product and service design, and content and digital sales optimisation solutions.

This, together with the IAB South Africa’s representation of expertise and experience in the digital media and marketing landscape, will see the project leverages common tools and technology stacks already used and understood by industry stakeholders.

These include application programming interfaces (API) and Javascript Object Notation (JSON), alongside technology stacks such as Google Analytics.

This will create a governed, Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA) compliant data store that can aggregate, report and distribute approved data in an appropriate format for the industry.

A need for standardised measurement

The partnership’s first high-level proof of concept (POC) has successfully tested the viability of the approach with the IAB South Africa’s Research & Measurement and Publisher Councils.

“For years, the IAB South Africa has vetted vendor-driven solutions, however, there has always been a need for standardised measurement, one that can act as a common language for comparison of audience size and characteristics,” says Clare Trafankowska-Neal, IAB South Africa Research & Measurement Council lead and managing director: South Africa at iProspect.

She adds: “We are pleased to have found this vendor-neutral measurement solution that will directly aid market participants to increase their overall operational efficiency and meet the requirements of customers effectively.

“This partnership propels IAB South Africa’s mandate of moving the industry forward to ensure online publishers are able to thrive in an ever-changing digital economy.”

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An industry-wide view of the state of audiences

The IAB South Africa Industry Measurement dashboard provides an industry-wide view of the state of audiences presented by online publishers in South Africa.

IAB SA members using the tool will be able to filter the data by publisher, publisher domain and audience as well as do comparisons by date, publisher and audience.

“The IAB South Africa Publisher Council is proud of the work that has been done to bring visibility to the South African digital industry. This is an important step forward in building stronger relationships between publishers, brands and agencies,” says Basil Fortuin, Publisher Council lead at the IAB South Africa and publisher: English and Afrikaans News Digital at Media24.

He adds, ”The IAB South Africa Publisher Council welcomes this initiative after a lengthy process in providing the industry with the necessary tools for measurement.”

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Full ownership of the service

The partnership and the resulting IAB South Africa Industry Measurement tool allow IAB South Africa full ownership of the service as well as processes and technology architecture that is adaptable to future developments within the industry.

dY/dX will maintain and support the industry data dashboard and integration with Telmar for media buying, as well as continuously optimise the solution until September 2025.

The coming weeks will see IAB South Africa and dY/dX extend the POC to further onboard more South African online publishers, as well as co-create an audience survey tool that is relevant to the current market in partnership with Telmar.

The appropriate governance structures and business-use rules, and define and deploy reporting interfaces by continuing to work closely with online publishers and media buyers will be established.

The power of working together

Geoff Cohen, Partner at dY/dX says they are extremely proud to collaborate with IAB South Africa on this initiative.

“Our aim is to support the digital media ecosystem by providing programmatic solutions that leverage common industry tools for seamless collaboration.

“This partnership exemplifies the power of working together to drive innovation and deliver measurable results for all stakeholders in the online publishing and media buying sectors.”