Nielsen Rival Aims High with TV Launch

Media owner Frank S. Maggio has set launch dates and ambitious targets for his interactive television company ReacTV. Maggio's erinMedia, a challenger to Nielsen Media Research, will provide advertisers with its own second-by-second TV viewing data, plus web ratings from NY-based 24/7.

Maggio says the channel aims 'to pass more homes on its launch date than the legendary MTV network on its first day, and to top MTV's current average advertising ratings within 500 days of ReacTV's launch'. To underline the comparison, the station will launch on August 1, 2006, the precise 25th anniversary of MTV's launch. Maggio says his network is 'not lumbered with the same barriers to entry that MTV faced 25 years ago. We will be synchronizing and simulcasting our ReacTV 77 content and ads live over the Internet, allowing every broadband connected home - and office - to receive our network, even if their cable or satellite provider does not yet offer our channel.'

ReacTV will charge advertisers a flat fee per thousand, based only on the precise number of viewers that watch their ads every second, providing the erinMedia and 24/7 ratings combined, on an overnight basis. It will also make use of Maggio's patented CRÂV advertising, which asks viewers questions to prove they are giving it their attention, and rewards them for answering correctly.

The firm's gaming network allows viewers to compete for cash prizes each hour by interacting with games and ads. President Noreen Parker says that live games played by the public at the NCTA show on Sunday have proved a success, delighting players. 'Once word gets out about our network, and the volume of prizes we give away for watching our ads, every ten minutes on the 7's, I think Frank's challenge to beat MTV's ratings in 500 days will happen even sooner than he thinks.'

ReacTV will be simulcast in markets where operators provide access to TV channel 77 and visible online via www.77.tv . Ten reactive networks are planned, spanning channels 70 to 79, by the end of the decade, and a Spanish version, Triunfo 70, is slated for channel 70 within the next 12 months.

The station is on the web at www.ReacTV.com and www.77.tv .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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