Nielsen Develops Combined Audience Metric for Sundance

In the US, TV station the Sundance Channel has collaborated with Nielsen to develop the 'Measurement Innovation Metric' (MIM); a new qual solution that calculates audience loyalty and engagement, as well as receptivity to advertising.

Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse selection of films, documentaries and original programs.

Its new MIM score is applied for each campaign, enabling advertisers to qualitatively measure the level of ad effectiveness of a campaign.

To determine viewer loyalty and engagement, Nielsen will survey 3,000 online respondents to develop an MIM score for targeted advertisers that measures both behavioural and emotional attitudes towards the network.

The behavioural calculation compares frequency and quantity of viewership (through Nielsen National People Meter Ratings data). Emotional interest and attitudes are measured by weighing several variables such as loyalty, affinity and brand perceptions towards the network.

By combining the results of both levels of viewership and engagement, a score is created that accounts for all levels of viewer involvement within a branded environment, and which can be compared to competitive networks.

Next, viewer ad receptivity is measured, and broken down into two categories. The first measures viewers' overall receptivity to advertising (ie, Is the viewer open to watching commercials? Do they fast forward? Do they rely on advertising for information?).

The second measures how the advertising fits overall within the network's brand environment. These two factors together generate a second score.

Through this combination of engagement and ad receptivity scores, an MIM score is generated which measures an ad campaign's effectiveness across multiple networks.

'We developed MIM to give advertisers a universal metric to measure the effectiveness of their advertising, including branded content, across their entire TV marketing campaign,' states Evan Shapiro (pictured), President, IFC & Sundance Channel. 'We wanted to lead the way in developing a next generation measurement tool for ad content, and we're proud to work with Nielsen on this initiative.'

Web sites: www.sundancechannel.com and www.nielsen.com .