In what appears to be an industry first for the U.S. ad industry’s research bible, the Advertising Research Foundation’s (ARF) Journal of Advertising Research (JAR) is partnering with an audience measurement supplier to use its data to generate academic research studies that generate new insights and ideas for applying it.
The journal, which is published by the World Advertising Research Center (WARC) for the ARF, said it is working with TVision, an audience-measurement supplier that uses computervision technology to determine whether viewers are actually looking at content and advertising on their screens, to help the ad industry “understand attention and attention metrics.”
The deal follows a $16 million investment in TVision by iSpot, which has emerged as an alternative TV ratings currency to Nielsen being used by big media suppliers like NBCUniversal and major advertisers and agencies as the basis for their advertising buys.
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As part of its partnership with JAR, TVision is offering its data free of charge to industry researchers to conduct original research studies whose findings may or may not be published by JAR in a subsequent edition of the journal.
“There is no money involved, and the applicants must have no commercial interest in this area,” says a JAR spokesperson, adding: “The main requirement is that successful applicants must submit any resulting papers for consideration first to the JAR. If the paper is rejected, they can submit it elsewhere.”
The journal said it will consider applications through March 31, 2023 and that researchers must also sign a non-disclosure agreement with TVision, although it won’t preclude them from publishing their findings.
“The goal is to try and bring academics and practitioners together to develop deeper insights,” JAR Editor-in-Chief Colin Campbell explains, adding: “There is no guarantee that the papers will necessarily be published in JAR, although we of course hope authors will develop great work using TVision’s data.”