Challenges and Future Directions of Computational Advertising Measurement Systems

Computational advertising (CA) is a rapidly growing field, but there are numerous challenges related to measuring its effectiveness. Some of these are classic challenges where CA offers a new aspect to the challenge (e.g., multi-touch attribution, bias), and some are brand-new challenges created by CA (e.g., fake data and ad fraud, creeping out customers). In this article, we present a measurement system framework for CA to provide a common starting point for advertising researchers to begin addressing these challenges, and we also discuss future research questions and directions for advertising researchers. We identify a larger role for measurement: It is no longer something that happens at the end of the advertising process; instead, measurements of consumer behaviors become integral throughout the process of creating, executing, and evaluating advertising programs.