“BuzzFeed, Group Nine Media and Vice are teaming up to try to solve the nagging puzzle of measurement in digital media.

The three digital publishers are working with Tubular Labs, a social analytics firm, to create new standards for measuring digital media on Facebook, YouTube and other sites. Tubular Labs already gives publishers monthly rankings that show which videos got the most views on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, but it is difficult to define whether those views actually influence audiences. Advertisers want to see exactly what value they get from a video or article they sponsor, not just how many views or clicks they tallied.

“There need to be better ways to measure quality engagement and quality viewership on video,” says Ashish Patel, Group Nine’s chief insights officer.

One of the hurdles to measuring digital media is that platforms offer different video experiences for viewers and the advertisers trying to reach them. For instance, on YouTube viewers click to play videos, and on Facebook they start automatically in the News Feed. And while a video might have a million views, publishers can’t tell how many of those can be attributed to an individual watching it once or multiple times.

Advertisers often fixate on completion rates—how many people get to the end of any piece of media, according to Patel. However, publishers would like to be able to show that even without a completion, a video could have the desired effect, prompting viewers to perhaps further research a product or make a purchase.

There is considerable pressure on media companies to deliver on their business promises, says Allison Stern, co-founder of Tubular Labs. They can show advertisers hundreds of millions of views a month on social media videos, but advertisers aren’t consistently realizing a return on those views.”

Read the full article on AdAge here.