• by Wayne Friedman , March 14, 2008

Starcom has put a line in the upfront sand: no precision metrics, no upfront deals.

Starcom is focusing on small cable networks, syndicator programmers and one kids' network; all are unrated. None are measured by the national ratings data--which Starcom has bought in the past.

There are scores of emerging networks that are unrated, but Starcom is targeting around a dozen or so, including Fox Business News; Ovation; kids' network Sprout; BET Jazz; and several ethnic syndicator programmers, including shows such as "Black Enterprise Report" and Central City Productions' "The Stellar Awards."

Some new networks are not rated by Nielsen because they are still too small or don't meet the researchers' other criteria. Other networks option not to get TV ratings.

Natalie Conway, senior vice president, cable activation director for Starcom USA, wants these networks to adhere to data generated from recent media agency deals. Recently, Starcom made deals with TNS Media Intelligence, which gets set-top data from the Charter Communications Los Angeles cable system, as well as another data arrangement that TNS has with DirecTV.

Nielsen also recently announced that it would provide set-top box data, combining its traditional panel methodology with more granular, quantitative data pulled from Charter L.A. homes.

In a release, Starcom said: "In prior years, standard industry practice has been to negotiate TV buys from unrated networks based on estimates from those networks and disparate sources.... As such, networks previously not listed in national ratings data that want to partner with Starcom's roster of advertiser clients must add a dimension of quantitative metrics data to their negotiations with the agency."

Last year, the agency says over one-quarter of its upfront deals were done on exact-minute rating deals--not average commercial minutes. Industry-wide, a majority of upfront advertising deals last year were made using commercial ratings--which are the average of commercial minutes. In addition, Starcom made one upfront deal last year on a second-by-second basis, with Discovery HD.

Conway says Starcom is looking to add more exact minute and second-by-second deals in the upcoming year. "This is a huge point in our agency. Everyone knows we are looking to increase these deals."

"This 'pre-upfront pledge' to the market is yet another phase in Starcom's plan to lead the market in accountability and accuracy and provide an unparalleled advantage for its clients," said Starcom President/Chief Activation Officer Chris Boothe in the statement.

While many media agency executives favor a more accurate measurement currency, other say the data isn't stable enough to yield consistent trends. They also complain that set-top box data does not yield demographic information.