• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, December 20, 2011

Starcom MediaVest Group has a signed a deal with analytics company Bluefin Labs to utilize the latter’s tech platform to monitor social media chatter about TV shows and ads.

The agency said it believes the Bluefin platform will help it make more informed media planning and buying decisions for clients, as it enables real-time monitoring of social media conversations.

It’s not the first time Starcom has used a tech firm to monitor such activity, and the agency is not the first to use Bluefin either. Last year, WPP’s MediaCom used a Bluefin monitoring platform, although an agency rep said that it has opted not to continue usage. Other agencies use different tech platforms in efforts to achieve similar results.

A Starcom rep noted that it has used other monitoring sources, including Networked Insight and Nielsen BuzzMetrics, among others. But the rep said the agency believes Bluefin provides “more advanced” techniques.

As part of the agreement, SMG said that the Bluefin Signals analytics platform will be integrated with proprietary SMG systems that the shop uses to analyze media and make planning decisions.

“Understanding the cause-and-effect relationship between paid and earned media is a challenge,” stated Kate Sirkin, EVP, Global Research Director, Starcom MediaVest Group. “Bluefin Labs’ data provides us with an incredibly valuable new dataset to evaluate this relationship and then gives us the ability to apply this understanding to maximize media investments for our clients.”

Starcom said that Bluefin Signals provides data and analysis of social media responses to more than 346,000 individual TV telecasts airing across all television dayparts and programming genres. For media planners, the platform helps find placements on TV where brand receptivity and engagement is highest, the agency said.

Other media shops use similar techniques.

Last year, Interpublic Group's Initiative created a social-media solutions division called PropheSee. The unit has tools to monitor conversations on social media and other online platforms about TV shows, ads and an array of other cultural goings on. PropheSee also monitors what consumers are saying about client brands.