• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, April 22, 2010

Lauren Zweifler, Vice President Research & Strategy for Screenvision, has expanded the value and importance of in-theater advertising for both advertisers and viewers. Lauren has extensive background in movie research, coming to Screenvision from American Movie Classics (AMC).

 

 In my interview with her, Lauren talks about Screenvision, in-theater research, past and future competition for the movie business, behavioral targeting and its measurement -- as well as offering some predictions going forward.

Below is a short excerpt from the interview. Direct links to the full interview videos can be found at WeislerMedia blog.

CW: Lauren, what would you say have been the most dramatic changes in the overall media industry in the past five years?

LZ: Certainly on the television side, with Nielsen changing its measurement -- and not just looking at it based on live, but also look[ing] at things based on DVR ownership and usage to try to understand commercial viewership vs. program viewership. So that definitely was a game-changer out there in terms of analytics.

I think that the fusion data that Nielsen is working on is game changing in trying to understand their people meters in conjunction with their relationship with MRI product and service usage, and trying to tie that together and also combining the online with the TV viewership. I think that companies like IMMI are trying to show true behaviors and not just stated behaviors,  to try to  really understand real exposure to advertising -- and then try to get to that next step about what the consumer did. Did they tune into a show that they heard a commercial for? Did they actually go to a store?

CW: Tell us a little bit about Screenvision.

LZ: Screenvision is a cinema advertising network. It is the ability of marketers from a local, regional and national level to be able to use this entertainment platform, entertainment vehicle as a way to connect with their consumers. So [it's for] local marketers, from the universities to medical centers to even day spas, to national advertisers who are looking for alternative ways to reach their consumers.

The marketplace has seen it as a vehicle of engagement and a way to connect with consumers who are out of home -- to be able not just to take advantage of the screen in a dynamic way to advertise, but to also take advantage of the marketing opportunities in the lobby.

CW: Lauren, can you talk about some of the projects that you are working on right now?

LZ: Sure. We are in the middle of a project where we are working with two of our larger advertisers from a national standpoint and trying to understand the investment that they have made in cinema - not just from an advertising spot prior to the trailers, but the platform that they have taken to advertise in our pre-show, and to take advantage of the multiple on-screen opportunities and interactive opportunities.

So part of the study is a measurement of texting and trying to understand people's interactivity of their campaigns in terms of trivia or voting contests. And we can measure on the backend how many people participated, which is another way of trying to understand how people are engaged.

We are also trying to understand the investment some of our advertisers make in big-event television programming and the value of extending their campaign with Screenvision. Marketers are looking at the best 360-degree campaign and they are thinking about cinema. So how are the two married? What are the analytics behind big TV event programming? And then taking that campaign and putting it into cinema -- and what is the value of their execution with Screenvision.