• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, April 14, 2010

Ned Greenberg is a research veteran whose experience at MTV, E!, CNBC and most recently at The Weather Channel places him in the center of major research initiatives, including cross-media metrics, out-of-home measurement and commercial pod effectiveness. In my interview with him, Ned discusses his custom pod analysis studies, engagement, set-top-box data through TIVO, and the future of research.

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

CW: Ned, you were in cable in the early days. How has cable evolved since then?

NG: The content has moved from reruns to cable networks being used as substitutes for broadcast. It has become a place where original content is being provided [with] good, close accountability and I think basically a better value proposition than broadcast.

I think we've moved to a place where the metrics are much tighter and the innovation is moving forward with the set top box data and the engagement work, target ability work. It is a very exciting time to be in cable.

CW: Ned, can you talk about some of your recent projects for The Weather Channel?

NG: Sure. Over a 15-year period the channel has looked at ad environment and effectiveness. At The Weather Channel we were able to generate an exact ad minute rating guarantee. We were the first to do it and it helped us in terms of accountability. Advertisers found it useful.

Secondly, the ad recall work we did over the past few years was very important; that lengths of pods make a big difference, where an ad is positioned within a pod is important in terms of effectiveness. In all cases, The Weather Channel was doing very well compared to competitors. In fact we're finding that the fact that people didn't TiVo Weather and were able to TiVo other things was having a big impact on ad schedules. So all these studies and research findings fit together to keep advertisers abreast of how viewers were using the channel and online.

CW: Can you go into a little more detail into your takeaways from your pod study?

NG: Yes. I think the important takeaway was that first and second positions really are very important. When you are getting into the fourth and fifth positions, you are looking at 20% of the effectiveness that you would get otherwise. So you are not only losing viewers as far as not seeing your ad, but you are also losing attentiveness from those who see the ads. It's a double whammy for an advertiser.

Weather was benefiting because its pods were no longer than two to two and a half minutes and we were purposely designing the network to handle that. It helps the environment as far as the viewers and as far as the advertising environment is concerned.

CW: So what is the difference in audience retention in a shorter pod versus longer pods?

NG: Well, if you were to look at average attentiveness for a network with longer pods versus Weather, which has shorter pods, in many cases you are looking at 30% to 40% or in some cases 50% differences. Less commercials work. Viewers have problems with too many commercials.

CW:  What about cross-media metrics?

NG:  We're entering a wonderful period when media brands will offer an advertiser a dashboard of real-time metrics that show the number of viewers seeing an ad, remembering the ad and the selectivity of the ad target.  Ad campaigns will be iterative (self-correcting) within the campaign period, and there will be less wasted impressions.  TV, online and mobile dashboards will use the common language building block of the grp so that advertisers can finally evaluate within media and across media.