• by Wayne Friedman , November 3, 2011

Looking to enlighten old TV marketing efforts, new research from TiVo says a study of the new fall TV series reveals that a high number of TV program promo airings does not necessarily equate to getting viewers to watch the premiere episode.

The Alviso, Calif.-based time-shifting service and measurement company says a better way to determine success may be through post-viewing analysis.

TiVo looked at 21 new shows debuting September 12 and October 2, using what it called a "Promo Conversion Rate," which is the percent of TiVo TV homes that were exposed to three on-air promo spots that ultimately tuned into the series premiere of the program. (This includes live plus 7 days of viewing.)

TiVo says its "promo conversion rate" is a more accurate measure of effectiveness versus looking at "reach" of those TV promos -- exposing promos to the highest possible number of unique targeted viewers.

For example, the best reach of any new TV show was for NBC's "Whitney," which garnered a 85.32% reach percentage. But "Whitney" ranked 16th of 21 shows in overall promo conversion rate -- getting people to watch the first episode. It earned a score of 11.2%.

The best conversion rate went to what has turned out to be the top two-rated new shows of the season for Nielsen adults 18-49: CBS' "2 Broke Girls," which earned a 28% promo conversion number, and Fox's "New Girl," which scored a 23%.

In contrast to the lowest promo conversion numbers -- ABC’s "Charlie’s Angels" (8.13%) and CW’s "H8R" at (9.41%) -- have already been cancelled. "Charlie's Angels" had the fifth-highest reach percentage and the highest total GRPs of 21 new shows.

Among more traditional measures of TV marketing efforts, gross rating points -- which factor in the total number of TV airings (in this case, the promos) and multiple exposures for each viewer -- ABC's "Revenge" scored the highest results, with 1018 GRPs.

Next came NBC's "Prime Suspect," a low-rated drama, which pulled in 805 GRPs. "Whitney" was next at 763, followed by another NBC show, "Up All Night," at 755. These shows were also in the top five when it came to reach percentage.

TiVo noted that none of the five new series of a year ago -- those with the lowest promo conversion rate, ABC’s "Detroit 1-8-7," CW’s "Hellcats," Fox’s "Lone Star," NBC’s "Chase," or ABC’s "My Generation" -- was renewed for a second season.

TiVo used data from its TiVo’s Power||Watch ratings services data, gathered from an opt-in panel of 35,000 TiVo subscribers.

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