ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997 TAG: 9704080039
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID BAUDER ASSOCIATED PRESS
The media research company will have the technology to measure viewership on TV ads, both entertaining and annoying.
For most of the year, NBC's ``ER'' and ``Seinfeld'' have been battling for the distinction of being television's top-rated series.
But have you ever stopped to wonder what is the top-rated commercial?
Maybe the Energizer Bunny reigns supreme. Perhaps it's a vignette involving an underfed model. Chances are it doesn't feature Dick, Miller Beer's self-proclaimed advertising genius.
The days when commercials can be rated just like the television shows they adorn are just around the corner. Nielsen Media Research, the chief ratings service for television, announced recently it was testing technology to measure this viewership consistently.
Think of it, though. Imagine if the people paying billions of dollars to advertise on television find out how many people begin channel surfing at the first sign of a commercial break.
Technically, Nielsen can already provide minute-by-minute measurements of how many people are watching a certain channel. But it is so expensive that it has only been ordered once - by a network that wanted to see which events during the Olympics were a hit with viewers, Nielsen spokesman Jack Loftus said.
But these measurements will be much more readily available through a system that involves encoding invisible signals in television programs and commercials. Nielsen is testing its new technology, designed to cope with the upcoming digital television era, in the Orlando area now.
Nielsen expects many more television networks and advertisers to make use of the information when it is widely available, perhaps as early as next year.
Television networks would then be able to see if the assumptions upon which they base their ad business are true. For instance, the first commercial in a series of ads now costs advertisers more to buy than the second or third, because it is assumed the attention span wanders.
David Poltrack, head of research for CBS, estimates that only about 5 percent of viewers use their remote controls to zap away from a channel during a commercial break.
The number is much higher for commercials during the break between programs - which accounts for NBC's initiative of moving seamlessly from one show to another without a commercial.
Could major television networks, already reeling from Nielsen's estimates that viewership is dropping, be forced to reimburse advertisers when there's a defection of people watching the commercials?
Quite the opposite, Poltrack joked: Commercials that chase away the network's audience should be held accountable.
``I would argue that you should pay me a premium,'' Poltrack said.
Poltrack said he believes more precise ratings will bolster the case of broadcast networks in seeking advertisers, because they will show cable viewers channel surf more. Cable executives eagerly await information that would prove they can deliver a more specialized audience to an advertiser looking to target a niche.
Advertisers could find that certain types of shows attract more channel surfers than others.
Sports, for example, is expected to have more defections because it has a big male audience. And it seems to be a genetic trait that men have an itchier finger on the remote control, said Steve Grubbs of the ad agency BBDO.
Poltrack said such a new Nielsen system will only be useful if it is accompanied by software that will allow customers to make good use of it. Dumping the ratings of thousands of commercials in the laps of networks won't be helpful; telling advertisers specifically when their ads have the most impact will be.
Poltrack will believe that a useful system will come of this experiment when he sees it. Network research heads like Poltrack have been particularly cranky about what they perceive as Nielsen's faults recently.
Richard Kurlander, vice president of Petry Television, an ad buying firm, said he didn't believe many viewers take the time to actively tune out commercials.
``I think the net result is going to be that it's not going to be that big a deal,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB