BSkyB says that its long-awaited Sky View audience measurement panel is now in operation, providing the satellite TV operator's red-button advertisers with detailed information on the effectiveness of their interactive ads. The panel, which Sky says is the result of a multi-million pound investment, electronically measures the behavior of viewers in 20,000 digital satellite households. According to Sky, it is almost four times larger than any comparable audience panel in the UK.
Thanks to the implementation of the new panel, any advertiser that uses Sky's Dedicated Advertiser Location (DAL) interactive advertising format (i.e. interactive ads that take viewers who press the red button to a special, navigable area containing product information) will receive what Sky describes as a "comprehensive" report on the results of its interactive campaign (note: the data gleaned from viewers' interactions with DAL's will be based on the service information code embedded in the latter). The report, which will be provided to those advertisers at no extra charge, will contain such metrics as:
- The number of households visiting the DAL during each week of the campaign.
- Frequency of visits to the DAL.
- Profile of households interacting.
- Breakdown of interactions by daypart and day of the week.
- Average time spent in the DAL, with breakdown by profile.
Sky says that, in the next few weeks, it will brief various "key" advertising agencies on insights it has gained from the Sky View panel. "Sky View delivers a massive breakthrough for interactive advertising," Robin Leach, head of interactive services for Sky's advertising sales arm, Sky Media, said in a prepared statement. "For the first time clients will have electronic measurement of how many people pressed the red button on their ad, rather than just how many go online [i.e. use the return path in their interactions with the ad]. This is the key part of the jigsaw that has been missing up until now, particularly for branding campaigns." In the future, Sky View will also track viewer interactions with less complex i-ads such as mini-DAL's and template-based i-ads. In addition, Sky will be able to combine the viewing data generated by the panel with purchase data gathered by its research partner, TNS, and with data gathered from use of the Sky credit card (which is designed to be inserted into the second slot of the Sky digibox), in order to better understand if and how viewing of interactive TV advertising affects consumer behavior.
This article was originally published on August 9, 2006 within the [itvt] newsletter.
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