With all the conversation this week related to Geopath and measurement, we asked Rob Peterson, the interim CEO at Geopath and Managing Director at The Wyse Group if he could answer a few question about Geopath’s financial situation and current operations.
Geopath is financially struggling. What’s caused the financial difficulties and what needs to happen to right the ship?
Geopath’s 2025 operating budget is stable and sustainable, with revenues sufficient to cover its cost commitments and building an appropriate reserve for unforeseen challenges. The 2025 budget was reviewed and passed by the Board and shared with members at the annual membership meeting. The decision to hire The Wyse Group has delivered on the Board’s desired outcome, which was to put in place a more rational budget and better governance of revenues and expenses while providing a bridge of leadership for the departing President. Through a combination of vendor contract renegotiations, elimination of non-critical expenses, a focus on collections to ensure all members are fulfilling their funding commitments, and a board-approved 2% increase in member dues for 2025 (the first dues increase since 2023), Geopath is now in a much stronger financial position.
Does Geopath have the right data partners?
Access to data, privacy regulations, industry standards and data costs continue to evolve rapidly, requiring any organization that provides data solutions maintain as nimble of an approach as possible. Geopath is continuously reviewing industry leading partnership opportunities, next generation solutions for data, and gathering feedback from members. New market entrants are expected in an evolving industry and those entrants have brought new data sets and measurement innovations to market in recent years creating more opportunity for the industry and Geopath to move faster, grow broader and deliver for a more sophisticated outcome.
What does Geopath need to do to produce more accurate, up to date data?
The Geopath operating team continues to be laser-focused on preparing the latest audience measurement dataset with the most complete and contemporary mobility data available, including updated road network definitions, post-pandemic travel patterns, and an improved model to estimate roadside reach & frequency, which is currently estimated for release in late Q2/early Q3 2025. The input datasets used in Geopath’s latest audience measurement are the best mobility datasets available at scale, pulling together multiple datasets (such as those that estimate the volumes on every roadway in the United States) to support a nationwide OOH inventory footprint, which are incredibly extensive and allow both media buyers and media sellers to identify often-overlooked inventory that can deliver on their clients’ media plans.
Setting up the next generation of data and measurement is a constant exploration for Geopath, its board and members. Reviewing and understanding existing and future-oriented technologies and data products, including AI-driven solutions, will produce a finding to enable the industry to operationalize the next generation of measurement. The gathering of data and advances in technology in this industry will continue to evolve. There is no standing still and Geopath, back on firm footing from its financial challenges, will find new paths, through partnership and development, to deliver to its members the credible, reliable and unbiased currency on which the industry trades.
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