• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, July 11, 2006

It's July, and ABC has started up the upfront--for 2007.

ABC has said this fall it could begin selling advertising based on commercial ratings--a story first reported by MediaDailyNews last Thursday. Other networks said they would join ABC. Nielsen Media Research says they'll be ready to go by November.

Average ratings for commercials can be 5 percent to 10 percent below that of program ratings. The better-rated commercials are in the "A" position--that is, the first position. After that, it gets worse, with viewers eating, gazing into space, or, as we know, fast- forwarding through two- to three-minute-long commercial pods.

With commercial ratings, the networks now get something else as well: those viewers who actually stop during DVR playback to see some of those TV ads. Still, as we all know, there aren't that many of such viewers.

All this means networks should be able to charge different rates for different positions in the commercial pods. Networks might also be finicky. Should a boring dishwashing detergent ad lead off the pod--one that will no doubt get lousy A position ratings? Or should the network put in a commercial for a sexy Uma Thuman movie from Paramount Pictures?

Advertisers already look to get those A positions now--and are charged accordingly. But now there'll be better math for all this, supposedly easy calculations that the media agencies can use.

ABC took a last-ditch effort to make deals for the 2006 upfront against commercial ratings, but agencies weren't ready to move--all after abandoning a formula in establishing rates on live viewing and DVR playback viewing. Though ABC seemingly got somewhat less on a cost-per-thousand viewer basis during this upfront, the network seemingly gave back some goodwill to the agencies, giving them the commercial ratings that they wanted.

These events take place as the murkiness of the upfront still wags on through the summer, with syndication and cable advertising sales executives waiting patiently by the phone for deals to close--or perhaps, to start.

It doesn't stop with commercial ratings, however. Marketers are always looking for a bit more.  As Lyle Schwartz, senior vice president-director of media research for Mediaedge:cia, told TV  Week, "The next level is, not only do they stay during the commercials, but are they the type of people who will actually pay attention to the commercials that the commercial has some sort of resonance with?"

That's right--soon there'll be Pay Attention Commercial Ratings.

Here we go again