• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, July 30, 2014

Ray Pettit, Ph.D., is the chief analytics officer for ITVX at Rentrak, which means he is deeply immersed in the measurement of branded and in-program content. In my interview with him, Pettit talks about ITVX, biometrics in measurement, cross-platform applications to ITVX, native advertising measurements -- and, because he began his career as a musician, the importance of a liberal arts education in professional growth.

There are five videos of the interview, which can be viewed here.

Below is an excerpt:

CW: How does ITVX calculate branded content performance?

RP:  ITVX uses an engineering approach, which is not common in marketing. If we presented it to Google, Amazon or even Netflix, they would “get it” right away because they do these types of things.

ITVX developed over the past 10 years a branded content analysis system. Basically, this is a system that records TV 24 hours a day. We measure about 20 channels with continuous reporting. And of course with Rentrak, we have expanded it to a syndicated service capturing everything on TV.

The analysts have software where they literally watch the program. They are checking start and stops points for each segment of a brand that appears in the content. This can be anywhere from a second where the brand flashes, to an actual period where a character is using the product. There might be messaging or certain key phrases that are inserted into the script judiciously that reflect something about the product. It sounds insidious but it is done all the time.

Then the analysts classify each segment -- they are not rating it. They are not passing a value judgment. The analyst has a choice of 18 levels from low to high interaction. This is the model that ITVX developed over the last 10 years.

CW: I know that there is a biometrics component of ITVX. How does this add to your measurement?

RP: It just gives a little more depth and specificity, so we can run target sample and see if there is a difference between Milennials and Boomers in terms of their response physiologically.

When something is engaging, your heart rate goes down, according to neuroscience. Also, we can start to look at the emotional version of engagement between ads and branded content. Is there a priming effect -- the ad primes the response level later in the show -- or the other way around?

CW: Can you match ITVX metrics to ROI?

RP: Since we are able to create a branded entertainment rating as well as have a branded impact measurement (Media Q could be considered a proxy for the quality of the integration), those numbers can go into a marketing mix model and in fact, we are doing a pilot project for one of our clients right now. The client has an ad rating and GRPs, and a branded entertainment rating and GRPs which are not overlapping -- they are separate measurements. And they have our branded entertainment quality scores for the last three years of integration -- mostly TV, some film and the Internet.

This is all going into the model and will come out showing how the branded entertainment piece impacted sales, how it impacted revenue, profitability, etc. And, more importantly to me because I am a mix modeler, it will also show how the ads and brands worked together.