The talk of the "up-front", the annual event where major advertisers and agencies commit to annual budgets with the broadcast and cable networks, is the
Neilsen ratings change.
Neilsen has traditionally measured audiences for 1/4 hour segments
and did not differentiate between the program and the ad.
Independent research, and
everyone's anecdotal
evidence, suggests that ads ad NOT watched as often as the program itself. So
Neilsen and the industry are slowly moving to a system of
commercial ratings, where the audience for individual ads are rated.
Now that is a LOT of measuring points!!! Every ad in every pod on every TV station and network for every demo!! Oh! Did I mention that
DVR playback within 7 days will be included as well!
The good news: It is a step in the right direction. No intelligent advertiser wants to spend money without some form of measurement. And this provides much more than ever was available before. Big advertisers and agencies have driven this, and will take full advantage, holding the
networks accountable for
delivering the audiences they paid for.
The bad news: I can't see how the data at a local level will be filled in to the extent that local advertisers can use ... or understand and process. There just are not enough measuring points to find out who is watching
the Food network at 2 pm on Wednesday in York, PA. And an advertiser in York
hasn't the
wherewith all to audit that spot anyway.
The bottom line still remains: If you are a small advertiser ($1M or less in most of the country), beware. You probably don't get what you want and measurement from the media industry is
likely to be obscure. Set up your own measurements .. like how many
people came into the
store after
the ad, a phone in number on
the ad, or something to tell you
the ad worked.
