Focusing on the work of Court TV, but noting that the cable channel is not alone in its efforts, RedOrbit has a piece about the industry's attempt to develop more effective audience-measurement
techniques. While Nielsen Media's metrics have long been the accepted industry standard, TV shops and advertisers increasingly insist on going beyond what Nielsen delivers, to measure the actual
engagement that viewers experience with specific programs. "There is a tremendous pressure on all advertising budgets--not just television--to show 'what did I get for my money,'" says Elizabeth
Herbst-Brady, senior vice president and director of broadcast investment at Starcom. "The end game is really to try to create tighter metrics around television." Of course this has been a work long
in progress, as the call for better audience data is not new. The Court TV initiative does showcase altogether new technologies, but represents new ways of melding data in order to gain a better
understanding of audience behavior. "We have positioned this all along as the beginning of a process," says Herbst-Brady of Starcom, which worked with Court TV on developing new metrics. "In a world
of tighter accountability overall, it stands to reason that clients need to be able to have data to support their choices."
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Read the whole story at RedOrbit / Reuters »