Almost every commercial that airs on television has a guarantee of how many viewers will watch it. Late last year, Fox and Netflix decided to do away with one of the oldest rules in media economics.
In November, Fox aired a two-minute segment on Sunday afternoon's NFL Showcase, one of the most-watched shows on television. After one of Fox's announcers told viewers to stay tuned for a special segment, viewers saw former New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman chatting with director Zack Snyder. did. With the help of augmented reality technology, the filmmakers quickly brought the athletes into the world of “Rebel Moon.” Snyder wrote and directed his sci-fi epic, which he released on Netflix late last year.
What viewers didn't know was that the vignette was an experiment conducted by Netflix and its media buying agency, Interpublic Group's MediaHub, in partnership with Fox. The goal is whether Fox can prove that the ads work, not based on the typical promise of Nielsen estimates of how many people saw the ads, but rather on the guarantee of social media activity stimulated by unique segments. I wanted to check if it was. “Everyone needs to be held accountable based on metrics,” said Carrie Drinkwater, the agency's chief investment officer.
For decades, that measure has been Nielsen ratings, which show how many viewers tuned into a TV show, and more recently, the measure has been the average number of viewers who saw an ad one week after it first aired. was. MediaHub has been trying for months to get TV networks to consider other concepts that are more closely tied to clients' actual performance.
In the case of streaming giant Netflix, it wanted to see evidence that viewers were talking about Snyder's appearance and talking about the movie during football games. “The endorsement was really all through social media, all platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Evans says. “This calculation was done through likes, shares, retweets, comments, contributors, and video views. All these different factors were added up and compared to impressions based on Nielsen metrics. , we can guarantee this.”
More and more advertisers are trying to tie their ads to so-called “business results,” such as a purchase, a visit to a website or showroom, or a request to send information about the product or service being promoted. Madison Avenue's philosophy is that it's not enough to know how many people watched an ad. It would be better to understand how many people took actions that brought them closer to an actual sale. Interest is growing as television viewership declines due to the rise of streaming.
In recent weeks, A+E Networks has introduced a new measurement offer aimed at helping advertisers determine just that. And this year, several television networks announced new agreements with EDO, an analytics firm founded in part by actor Ed Norton that examines search activity related to commercial appearances.
At a time when television viewership is declining, advertising determines business outcomes, which may give marketers more confidence in the stations they advertise with. “We wanted Fox to invest in this execution and give it their all,” Drinkwater said. “This locks everyone into ad sales commitments, which is a big deal.'' Fox typically seeks about $1 million for a 30-second commercial during Sunday football broadcasts.
Evans said Fox decided to take on the challenge after learning that more advertisers were seeking similar ideas and thinking the network could learn from this experiment. It helped that Netflix was a key buyer of Fox's inventory, and that he and Drinkwater had negotiated numerous times over the years.
These factors clearly helped. Not only was Netflix able to “take over” essentially two minutes of ad time at NFL games with custom-designed segments, but Evans said it was a first for the network, and it was also a first for the network, featuring Eric Shanks, Fox's He said he was able to utilize his specialized knowledge. He is the CEO and executive producer of Sports and was involved in the concept design. Both the agency and the network indicated that the results were positive. This ad generated four times as much social interaction for him as he was guaranteed.
Netflix declined to make executives available for comment.
Mediahub is likely to seek similar deals with other media outlets. Drinkwater said he has discussed the concept with sales executives from Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and A+E Networks. “We're starting to have those conversations,” she says. “You need the right client, the right environment, and the right metrics.”
Evans said Fox will continue to respond to such requests. Other advertisers may want a social media guarantee, especially if the commercial is needed to generate consumer buzz. “Maybe it's for a new car or a new technology product,” the sales executive says. “You can really filter into any category.”
